Exotic Tastes
by mikeanthony321
Summary: Aurora, a socially inept octoling stumbling through an inkling's world, grapples with a dilemma when she falls head-over-tentacles for a stylish and apathetic inkling boy...just days before her very first Splatfest. She is prepared to go to any length to win his interest, despite the phrase that she can't seem to stop hearing. "Octolings aren't supposed to date inklings."
1. Chapter 1: The News

**Author's Note:** Strong language, drug use, and (suggestive) sexual content warning! Read on if those don't scare you. ;)

There was still a chance they could pull it off.

The golden statuette was sitting near the center of the arena where it had been dropped, surrounded by three members of the enemy team, and there were only fifteen seconds left on the clock. Its barrier had been burst by the enemies just moments ago, which resulted in a large splatter of hostile turf that kept the four of them effectively at bay. Among their opponents was a Dynamo Roller that kept showering the gap with thick globs of ink, a .96 Gal with range that seemed to stretch on forever, and a Decorated Heavy Splatling user that abused an annoying abundance of splash walls. They didn't know where the fourth opponent was, but at the moment, it didn't seem to matter. Time was ticking, and with many of them outranged and outgunned, they knew their fate was going to rely on a miracle.

The spot under the railroad bridge along Inkopolis's most prominent waterway, Snapper Canal, was not exactly Aurora's favorite place to have a rainmaker battle. Her preferred Saturday afternoon was either a good, old-fashioned turf war at Arowana Mall (followed by an unbridled shopping session)…or a nice martini by the pool on top of Albacore Hotel. Unfortunately, the day had been kind of dry in terms of available opponents, so when a tight-knit team of shaggy inkling boys came forth with an _insistence_ on playing over at Snapper Canal, she and her friends had no choice but to oblige. They had all gotten out of bed that morning with the intent to brandish their weapons for the day, so they bit the bullet and accepted the terms.

The battle had been rather uneventful in its first half, with both teams splatting each other's members at a relatively equal rate. Without any clear advantages to work with, nobody had had the guts to pursue the rainmaker. The arena had some decent side-lanes for flanking the objective, but no one had managed to make use of them without getting caught by an attentive back-liner. However, just shortly after the battle had dragged into its third minute, Aurora's opponents had landed a hefty group-splat on her and her friends, causing the rainmaker to slip through them and into their spawn. With the battle nearing its end, their opponents had scored ninety-one units of distance with the rainmaker, while Aurora and her friends had only hit fourteen.

One of Aurora's friends, an octoling girl with thick, wavy tentacles of hair on her head and an abundance of concealing, black clothing from head to toe, sunk into the ink and swam several feet backwards, away from the front lines. She wielded a weapon that complemented her dark-colored ensemble rather well: the fiery Grim Range Blaster. Following a hectic episode of ink-on-ink action around the rainmaker, she was the first of her team to build up her special weapon in the little time they had left. She emerged from the ink at the back of the slope that led to their spawn, stowed her clunky weapon aside, and deployed her deadly Tenta Missile launcher.

"I'm about to cream-pie the rainmaker!" She called to her teammates, loudly enough for them to hear her from a distance. "Does anyone have an opening?"

"Hold up, give us a rain check on that one!" The octoling fighting nearest to Aurora shouted back. She sported a loose-fitting sports jersey and a maroon bandana over her mouth, offset by a pair of heavy punk boots on her feet. Despite her attempts at a sort of "gangster" look, she was always known for wearing her hair back in a cute ponytail. She was also an enthusiastic user of the classy, Enperry-brand Splat Dualies.

The octoling with the Tenta Missiles stamped her foot on the ground. "Your puns are _not_ appreciated right now! Do you have an opening or not?"

"I'm being serious, though!" The ponytail octoling shot back, drifting between a snarky grin and a concentrated frown. "If you could see through those dark-ass shades for once, you'd see that they have ink armor active at the moment! Hold off for a sec, and fire on my signal!"

She rolled her eyes. Through her "dark-ass shades," however, no one on her team could tell. She was currently staring down three large, perfectly vulnerable target marks through the reticle on her missile launcher, and she was being told to _wait_. Ugh. With less than ten seconds on the timer, she saw little point in waiting for some petty ink armor to subside. At the very least, her missiles would still be able to force their opponents to disperse from the rainmaker and provide a potential opening for a last-ditch push.

She squinted a little bit to try and improve her view. Even at her wide angle from the back of the slope, her launcher had only locked onto three opponents, all of which were holding their defensive line near the objective. The entirety of the battle, at its current stage, was taking place in a single fifty-foot diameter around the rainmaker. Where the hell was the fourth guy?

A better question she had for herself was…why the hell was she waiting to use her Tenta Missiles? As much as she loved her friend, her friend was a Dualie-user, and as such, her judgement meant literally nothing to her. They had no time left. It was now or never.

With her three targets locked and a mischievous grin beneath her shades, she pressed down on the trigger. Before a single missile could fire from her launchers, however, a stealthy Squiffer shot rang through the air to her right, nailing her straight in the temple and soiling her big moment before she had a chance to decipher the location of her missing opponent. Her inky body promptly exploded in a fine cloud of hostile turf, causing her blaster and her missile launcher to fall to the ground amidst a puddle of remains. Her glowing essence floated away from the site on its way back to the spawn platform, sporting a pair of rather pissed-off-looking eyes.

Her surprise assailant was a quiet and calculative inkling boy, just like the rest of his team. His smooth, tentacled hair was parted all to one side, leaving an appendage that tended to block his eye while he aimed his charger. He wore a black vest that seemed to hug his body rather tightly, along with an elbow sleeve on his trigger arm. He topped his look off with a mid-sized pair of headphones that wrapped behind his head. The Tenta Missile octoling that he had just splatted only got to see his features for a brief moment, though, for as soon as he finished her off, he quickly morphed into his squid form and rocketed off to his own spawn platform.

Meanwhile, Aurora and the ponytail octoling were still actively trying to dwindle their opponents' numbers so they could slither forward and nab the rainmaker. The fourth member of their team, and the third of Aurora's group of friends, had been acting as the team's back-liner with a customized E-Liter 4K. Unfortunately, the immense charge time of her weapon made it impossible for her to settle on a vantage point and fire off a shot without being terrorized by the Splatling user hiding behind the splash walls. At this point, it was all down to Aurora and the ponytail octoling to make something of the few seconds they had left.

"Alright, Ula, now would be a good time to use those Tenta Missiles!" The ponytail octoling exclaimed while dodge-rolling to avoid a column of Dynamo Roller ink. When she didn't hear the signature sound of missiles shooting out of a launcher behind her, she turned her head and glanced in that direction. "…Ula?"

Aurora was quite an avid listener, so when Ula, her friend with the Tenta Missiles, had been splatted by one of their sneaky opponents, she knew about it right away. For some reason, though, telling the ponytail octoling about the unfortunate occurrence hadn't crossed her mind. Above all, the one thing that _was_ prominent in her mind was the dire state in which her team had found themselves. They no longer had a way to dissolve their opponents' strong defenses, and the clock was ticking down from three seconds. She knew Ula was going to start throwing names around if they lost, and she certainly didn't want that to happen, so the reckless part of her brain triggered her to pursue the only option they had left.

Without a word of confirmation, she stowed her Kensa Splattershot, dove into the ink, and began swimming rapidly towards the rainmaker. Donning the objective was the only way she and her team could extend the timer. Their opponents may not have been dealt with yet, but who cared about that? She was there to live in the moment, and she certainly had nothing to lose.

She kicked off her suicidal battle maneuver with a suction bomb. Pausing her approach for a brief moment, she lobbed the explosive in an elevated arc so it would clear her opponents' splash wall and land in the immediate vicinity of the rainmaker. She then submerged a second time and propelled herself toward the objective without checking to see if her bomb had landed in the expected spot. She hoped the bomb would distract her opponents and keep them from noticing her painfully conspicuous dash to steal their treasure. The ponytail octoling stopped firing when she caught a glimpse of her friend.

"Wait, Aurora! What are you doing?!"

Aurora didn't hear her. Sure enough, at the same time she was dodging around their splash wall, her graceful projectile plopped down on the ground right next to the golden statuette, within just a few feet of all three opponents. Naturally, it didn't take them long to notice it. They all stopped their rain of fire when the bomb landed so they could quickly disperse to a safe distance. During that short blip of time, she jumped out of the ink near where they were previously standing and grabbed the rainmaker.

The ponytail octoling wanted to say something else to her, but she found herself just standing there with her dualies and watching the event play out. She knew that her friend was difficult to control when she got her mind set on something. Underneath her shy exterior was a fiery engine of blind determination. She and the rest of Aurora's friend group knew quite well of her raging femininity, as well as her tendency to mask it behind her limited social skills. After all, this certainly wasn't her first time surprising them with crazed, goal-driven behavior.

Their back-liner, the toned octoling with the E-Liter 4K and the cold, scanning look in her eye, also took notice of Aurora's actions. Seeing her friend with the rainmaker in her possession, she knew the battle now depended on how long she could hold onto it. If an enemy were to splat her and force her to drop it before she could pass ninety points of distance, they would lose right on the spot. She needed a helping tentacle.

Aurora had a little bit of her own ink to swim in upon reaching the rainmaker, thanks to her suction bomb blowing up the premises. However, now that she was holding the objective right on her shoulder, with enemies on all sides of her, her maneuverability was somewhat constrained. She needed a way to escape, and her back-liner was ready to provide that for her. From her position, she aimed through the E-Liter's sights out past her friend toward the opponents' pedestal, and she took a shot.

The opponents began to converge back onto Aurora's position as soon as they noticed that the battle had gone into overtime. With no time to react to her surroundings, she built up a shot in the mouth of the golden statuette and released a mighty explosion at her feet, propelling her to the side a little bit and violently splatting the Dynamo Roller user, who had been too slow to back out of the way. Then, she frantically sunk into the long hallway of ink that her back-liner's charger shot had created and scurried toward their goal with all her might. The Splatling and the .96 Gal followed her in close pursuit after dodging shots from her friends.

The rest of Aurora's team soon found themselves standing amongst the calm as the rest of the battle followed the rainmaker to the enemy's pedestal. The ponytail octoling awkwardly lowered her dualies just as Ula came swimming up from their respawn platform.

"She's not about to do it, is she…?" She muttered aloud to the back-liner.

The back-liner merely shrugged her shoulders. She reached up towards her ear and adjusted the strange, golden toothpick that was fastened to her slithery locks. "Shouldn't we follow her too?"

Ula laughed sarcastically at her suggestion. She then scoffed. "If you and Bella want to swim after that nutcase, _totally_ feel free. I'd rather sit back here and wait for her to be splatted."

Bella, the ponytail octoling, giggled at her friend's pessimistic remark. "I like that can-do attitude of yours, Ula. Very inspiring."

She raised one of her dualies at Ula and fired a shot, hitting her right in the face. The ink from the shot knocked her friend's circle shades right off and caused her to recoil in shock. She and the back-liner snickered as Ula uttered a few swear words at them, flashing them the middle finger while she struggled to find her shades on the ground with ink in her eyes. Ultimately, however, the two of them decided to take Ula's advice and leave Aurora to her foolish pursuit. They knew when it was time to call the game a lost cause.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the canal, Aurora was still attempting her getaway with the rainmaker as if nothing else mattered. She had less and less of her own team's ink to swim in the closer and closer she got to her opponents' pedestal, so eventually, she was forced to emerge from the ink and charge up a rainmaker shot for some extra distance. Shots from the .96 Gal behind her were starting to land by her feet, reminding her that she still had two attackers gaining on her rapidly. She had just cleared fifty points of distance for her friends, and she was not about to stop there.

She built up another shot in the mouth of the statuette and held it there for a moment. There was a brief pause in the shots that were coming her way, which led her to believe that her attackers were currently swimming a path towards her. If she didn't lose them soon, they were easily going to catch up to her and mow her down without breaking a sweat. Therefore…she used their gaining proximity as an advantage by turning around and launching the explosive shot near her feet again, with a short bit of distance behind her to give her another kick forward.

The shot detonated just as her assailants were emerging near her location, blasting them with ink and splatting them both instantly. Their weapons fell to the ground with a small splash and slid idly down the slope. Aurora saw this and got a small twinge of excitement in her gut. With those two out of the way, she basically had a straight shot to the pedestal. She was actually about to save the battle for her friends! She could already _feel_ their eyes on her, cheering her on as her heroic trek approached its fruition. She hoped they were, at least, knowing how they could be.

With one more shot forward, she paved a path of ink that she knew would get her past her opponents' record. She submerged in the ink one more time and slithered, with all the speed she could muster, towards the ramp to their pedestal. She passed sixty points…seventy…eighty…eighty-five.

Upon reaching the end of the streak, she jumped out of the ink to fire another shot from the rainmaker and close the remaining gap. Upon doing so, however, she noticed an enemy inkling popping out of the ground on the ledge right at the top of the ramp. She knew there was still one active on the arena somewhere, but she had naively assumed him to not be blocking her goal. She caught a glance of him and his Squiffer and froze completely.

The first thing that caught her eye was his luring taste of clothing. She was quite a fan of his vest, especially with the elbow sleeve. The way he donned a charger, even if it was just a Squiffer, with that top made him look so…_professional_. His headphones and black, orca-woven hi-tops were also not to be ignored, complementing his figure and communicating a confident, nonchalant attitude. His hair wasn't much shorter than hers was, and he had all of it parted to the side. She couldn't help but notice that the front tentacle of his hair covered his eye a little bit, which, for some reason, struck a chord with her. He refused to smile or show any signs of weakness as he raised his weapon and pointed its laser directly on her chest. She wasn't paying attention to that, though, as her focus was starting to spill into how vividly his snug-fitting vest was showing off his toned upper body. He looked good. He looked _really_ good.

The mysterious inkling fired off the shot without blinking, and Aurora quickly suffered the same fate as Ula had not long prior. The rainmaker dropped on the ground with a loud _clang_ and immediately developed a new barrier around itself, locking it off until someone came to shoot it open again. No one would be doing so, however, as the battle itself had officially ended the moment the rainmaker left her possession after the overtime buzzer. Aurora and her octoling friends lost to the inklings with a score of eighty-seven to ninety.

Ula, Bella, and the back-liner were watching the ordeal play out from where they had been fighting originally, which was farther back by the canal between the two slopes. They had mistakenly allowed their hopes to rise after seeing their friend's reckless plan nearly pay off, and their jaws had gone slack in confusion when they saw her choke on the last enemy just three points before their gnarly comeback.

"Well…she was close, at least." The back-liner muttered with a shrug.

"Close?" Ula spat. "She was practically already there! She could've _thrown_ the rainmaker and still won us the damn battle!"

"Yeah, it's like she just…stopped working. Did you see how she just stood there and _let_ that guy snipe her? A quick lunge would've both dodged the shot _and_ passed their record." Bella added with a cross of her arms. Drops of leftover ink fell out of the nozzles on her dualies as she shifted her stance.

Ula shook her head in disapproval. Her thick bundles of suction-cup-riddled hair jiggled with the motion. "Aurora is _weird_. Wouldn't be the first time one of her crazy impulses backfired in her face. In _our_ faces."

It wasn't long before the opposing inklings had a chance to regroup and start strolling towards the center of the arena to bask in their victory. Bella and Ula glared at them as they approached, expecting a firestorm of gloating to come from the gang of supercilious squids. The smug grins and casual chatter among their group told the entire story. The back-liner stood her E-Liter upright on the ground and leaned against it while looking the other way, determined to avoid confrontation with the boys.

Aurora showed up behind them just as the victors were arriving, having dove through the ink after respawning to join her friends more quickly. She still held her Kensa Splattershot in both hands, and as her opponents stepped up to her and her friends, she looked down at the plastic weapon sadly.

The first one to speak was the Splatling user on the inkling team, which Aurora and the others had assumed to be their captain. He had come across as a bit arrogant when they first met at the square for their battle, so his words were not in any way surprising to them.

"Gee, girls, don't you think it was kind of cruel to make your one _handicapped_ player do all the lifting on the objective for you?" He jeered. A couple of his friends cackled at the remark.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Oh, lay off, you cretin. Everyone knows glasses aren't really a handicap. At least Aurora didn't pussy out behind splash walls the entire five minutes. I'm pretty sure she splatted you guys more than you splatted us."

The Dynamo Roller user spoke up from beside the captain, smirking just as heavily as the rest of his friend group. "Tactical sacrifices, that's all they were. Leave it to the girly little octolings to not know how to pick up or defend a rainmaker!"

Bella answered to that by putting her hands on her hips and shifting her waist out to the side, her dualies still wrapped in each of her fists. "Keep telling yourself that, kiddo. Everyone here knows your excessively gigantic weapons are merely compensating for your lack of balls."

While Bella continued to argue with the group of cocky victors, Ula caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye. When she turned to look, she saw Judd the cat scurrying in her direction from the fences along the side of the arena. Judd was quite an idol to the inklings, and even the octolings, but Ula never really cared for him. He was known around Inkopolis for judging turf wars and objective battles, and typically, whatever verdict he passed was accepted by the players as the official outcome. On off-days, he usually liked to sleep on benches in the middle of the city square.

Ula thought he was annoying. Especially when he felt the need to barge onto the scene and declare victors after battles with already obvious outcomes. Therefore, as the fat, fuzzy feline hurried past her on his way to the center of the arena, she reeled her booted foot back and kicked him off the nearby ledge. Judd gave a gnarly hiss at the sudden, offensive strike as he tumbled over the side and fell into the shallow water. No one seemed to notice the resulting splash.

"Oops." She grumbled sarcastically.

Ula wasn't always quiet about her failures, and this particular time around, Aurora couldn't shake the guilty feeling that her friend's irritation was her own fault. She had given in to another one of her crazy impulses, and the resulting explosive ending had only served to falsely raise her team's hopes. It probably would've been better, in hindsight, to surrender the battle as it was and go quietly into the night. She hated seeing Ula so heated.

She shook off her thoughts, though, as she heard their opponents begin to walk past her and her friends with a self-righteous swing in their step. Bella kept her dominant glare on them as they strolled away, trying unsuccessfully to pierce the complacent grins that were still plastered on their faces. Ula restrained herself as they passed, though she looked poised to tackle the first one to provoke her and start beating him with her blaster. It had kind of been a long day for them.

As the gang of guys walked past her and Ula, Aurora couldn't help but snag another look at the Squiffer user. Even his unique walk had a way of captivating her attention. He seemed to convey a lot of confidence in his step, but at the same time…much carelessness. He was the only one on his team that wasn't grinning nor smugly rubbing his victory in her friends' faces, and for that, among other things…she felt drawn to him. Perhaps she'd get to see him again. She hoped for it, in fact, but the realization hadn't yet hit her fully.

There was a problem, though. He was an _inkling_. That blatant fact bothered her a bit, as something about her strange thoughts toward him were clearly out of line. If her time in Inkopolis had taught her anything, it was that size mattered, and_ octolings weren't supposed to fancy inklings_.

Just as her eyes started to drift down his back towards some other features, she caught herself and turned her gaze the other way. She and her friends were now the only ones still standing in the arena, among the gallons and gallons of bi-colored ink that still covered the ground. They shared a brief moment of silence, though it didn't last very long.

"…I hate rainmaker battles." Ula whined, shortly after the silence fell.

The back-liner, who hadn't said much during the entire ordeal, turned back to look at her after stowing her long, tube-like E-Liter on her back. "That's what you said about the clam blitz battle from last week."

"Uh, yeah, thanks for the input, Eight." Ula quipped, punctuating her sarcasm with a scoff. "Where the hell is Ophelia? I'm _dying_ over here."

Eight, as her friends seemed to call her, shrugged and turned the other way again, flashing a glint in her friend's eye from the golden toothpick in her hair. It wasn't common for her to speak unless spoken to, and when someone happened to disagree with her, she'd often never argue. She had a tendency to slide into the shadows during confrontations or large get-togethers, thanks to her broad indifference toward most social interactions that weren't within her friend group. In general, she was an octo of very few words.

Meanwhile, in contrast to her hotheaded pal, Bella didn't seem too bothered by her team's defeat. Once the gang of inklings were around the corner and out of sight, her hawkish glare subsided, and she turned her attention back to her friends. She pulled her bandana down to her chin and let out a de-stressing sigh. As she switched to a more passive gear, she stowed her dualies on her hips, one on each side.

"Well…that was eventful. Kind of figured those guys were going to act like that." She whipped her head in a quick motion so her ponytail would fall to the other side.

"Seems like they always do." Ula replied with a detestable groan. "Inklings always seem to think they're hot shit."

Bella stared for a moment at Ula and watched her cross her arms and look the other way. She didn't really have anything to say to her friend's constant pouting, especially since it had been going on for most of the afternoon. There were some days when the tomboyish octoling was outgoing and fun to be around, and others when she simply couldn't be pleased. Her attitude towards inklings was sketchy at best, and getting mocked by them after a loss was not an effective way of turning that attitude around. Bella and the others usually took her gripey remarks with a grain of salt, knowing she'd be different when times were good.

Therefore, she decided to change the subject. She looked over at Aurora, who was still staring at the ground like she had just been caught stealing a cookie.

"What about you, Aurora? You haven't really said much since we got here."

Aurora looked up suddenly after hearing her name, causing her glasses to slide away from her face a bit. She instinctively pushed them back into position with her finger. "Huh? What?"

"You good?" Bella grinned slightly, knowing how fragile Aurora could sometimes be in the spotlight, unlike Ula. "We know you like to zone out a lot, girl, but you're usually much more chill after a battle."

The bespectacled octoling didn't answer right away. She glanced down to the side, away from the observing eyes of her friends, and shrugged dismissively. Much like the rest of her friends, she also didn't take very well to being teased by opponents, though she wasn't usually known to internalize their insults. Her mind just felt a little too scattered this time to even notice.

"…I guess."

Bella tried again, undeterred by her apathetic response. "That was quite a bold move earlier, you know. You had Eight and I on the edge of our seats when you managed to take out those two guys near the end!"

Aurora glanced back up at Bella with a lingering sense of awkwardness in her expression. She also caught a glimpse of Eight, who was apparently giving her the same amount of attention from behind the others. She had to figure that her friends were eventually going to ask her about her blunder earlier…when she had narrowly cost all of them the overtime victory. She really didn't feel like bringing it up.

In an attempt to nonchalantly disguise her discomfort, she faked a smile and chuckled weakly. Instead, it just came out sounding more suspicious. "Hehe…I suppose I did."

Eight suddenly spoke up again, causing Aurora and the others to glance at her. "Why did you stop, though? It looked like you were just about to win it for us."

Carp. That sure didn't take long. Aurora let out a loud, noticeable sigh before she could stop herself. There were many embarrassing aspects to letting a clear victory opportunity slide through one's fingers, and those aspects were certainly amplified when the failure was the result of…_wandering eyes_. She didn't exactly know how to explain to her friends that she had gotten distracted by a boy, of all things, in the middle of a battle. After all, her friends weren't really the types to present themselves as…'on the market,' per say, at least outside the context of a good party. Were they going to ridicule her for it? Shun her? Play the next few battles without her, perhaps?

"Yeah, Aurora, what gives?" Ula added with a raised brow, cutting into her thoughts again.

Now that she was in the spotlight, Aurora didn't know how to deal with the situation. She was a _terrible_ liar, and everyone knew it, so there was no way she'd be able to spit an answer and get away with it. She tapped her toe against the ground and refused to make eye contact with her friends. "I…uh…"

Suddenly, at precisely the right time, a voice could be heard calling the group from a short distance down the canal. "Ey, ladies, what're y'all doing standing over there? Let's bring the party down here to where we agreed!"

The group turned their attention away from Aurora when they heard the noise, giving her a moment to breathe. She wasn't prepared to have to explain herself on the spot like that, especially over something that, to her, at least, was pretty minor. Battles came, and battles went; some were won, and some were lost. Why did her friends have to know about her slip-up so badly?

Aurora had their caller to thank for saving her the trouble, as her friends were now too distracted to continue prying any further. She joined them in looking in the caller's direction, where a shaggy-looking octoling girl could be seen waving at them from beside a few tarped pallets. Her details weren't too clear at her distance, but Aurora and her friends knew her quite well already. She wore her olive-green hair in a loose ponytail, similar to Bella's, but shoved lazily under a backwards white cap so it would dangle down behind her head. She matched her cap with a glimmering white leather jacket, the zipper on which she was known for keeping up to her chest, even in warm weather. Her legs and feet were always covered with baggy leggings and punk whites, and her eyes were concealed by shades. She looked quite a bit like a rapper, though she was certainly not known for being very musical.

"Hey, Ophelia!" Ula shouted ecstatically. "Not a moment too soon!"

The band broke up as Ula took off jogging towards the octoling, who was, in fact, the last member of their friend group. Ophelia, as she was named, had not participated in her friends' rainmaker battle, thanks to the classic four-player limit imposed by inklings and octolings across the city. Instead, she had been out 'grocery shopping,' as she liked to call it, near Inkopolis Square. Their agreement had been to meet back up at the canal after the battle to mellow out and chat, and Ophelia was seen by her friends as the goddess of doing just that. Their reason for such a distinction…was obvious.

Ula waited by her impatiently while the rest of their friends casually dawdled over to her. Aurora always noticed the drastic change in Ula's behavior whenever Ophelia was around. It was as if the grumpy octoling's many woes were instantly whisked away the moment her beloved, fellow-shaded companion came into view. Aurora knew better, though. She and the others could read Ula like an open SplatNet feed. As much as she appreciated Ophelia's friendship, and enjoyed her company…it wasn't simply her friend's _presence_ that got her so excited…oh, no. Rather, it was what she provided for the rest of the group.

"How are you doing, 'Lia?" Aurora greeted as she and the others came to a stop around their friend. She hoped to distract everyone from her interrogation earlier by leading the transition into Ophelia's arrival.

"Ah, you know…can't complain." She answered with an equable grin. "The square is surprisingly quiet today. Not gonna lie…it was kind of nice."

Bella shook her head. "I know, tell me about it. We were basically scraping the bottom of the trash bin for opponents today. Just got done losing to a gang of assholes."

Ophelia had to laugh at that, in spite of her friends' minor annoyance. She had also fought her fair share of battles with them since moving to Inkopolis, so she knew quite well the struggles of being the laughing-stock of an audience. Most inklings were fairly nice, but there were some, they've found, that didn't take kindly to octolings wandering their city. Losses were sometimes brutal when there were large crowds, especially when the scores were close. Her friends were lucky to have lost on Snapper Canal this time, where there weren't usually any spectators.

"Well, girls, shit happens, you know? Was it too horrible to tell me how it went?" She shifted her balance and swished lazily at her ponytail.

"Forget about that! Just tell us what you brought for us! Tell us, tell us!" Ula blurted suddenly, above her frantic foot-tapping. Aurora and Eight both looked at her with minor concern.

As rude as the outburst sounded, Ophelia wasn't bothered by it. In fact, with how things had been recently, she came to expect such behavior from Ula. She had a naturally short temper, after all, and with how unfulfilling their battles had been lately…it seemed like her goodies were becoming the highlight of her poor friend's days. Ula's steady trend had Ophelia and her friends a bit worried about her. However, today was not going to be the day to address that. She had news to share a bit later.

"Itching to cut to the chase, then?" She giggled a bit. "Alright then, fair enough. Here's what I got for us today."

Ula watched with a childlike twinkle in her eye as Ophelia shoved her hand into her jacket pocket and began briefly searching its contents. Bella and Eight watched with a bit of their own enthusiasm, but they kept it contained. Aurora knew what was coming, just like the rest of them, and she didn't feel very hyped for it this time around.

After only a moment or so, Ophelia removed an item from her pocket and held it up for her friends to see. It was a moderately-sized plastic baggie, filled about halfway with clumps of dried plant matter. Aurora turned her head away when the bag came into view…an automatic reaction to the pungent smell that famously accompanied it. The gesture was in stark contrast to Ula's, who eagerly leaned in to get a closer look.

"Now _that's_ what I'm talking about." She whispered with awe. "What's it called this time?"

Ophelia continued to hold the small bag out in front of her as a courtesy to Ula, who usually liked to take her time inspecting her prize. "The dealer calls it 'White Fire.' I had you in mind when I spoke to her. Told her I needed something relaxing and uplifting, and this is what she gave me. No idea where she gets the name from."

"Aww, that's so thoughtful." Ula swooned a bit while staring longingly at the bag, causing Bella to chuckle. "You're the best, 'Lia."

"Her poor, tortured soul doesn't know what it'd do without you, 'Lia." Bella added, sending a playful, mocking glance in Ula's direction. The one Ula shot back at her was not as nice.

She smirked at her fellow ponytailed friend's little jab. "No problem, as always. I put in some overtime with the Grizz earlier this week to get this stuff, so I hope it's good."

Ophelia understood that the battle had made her friends weary, so she decided to get right to the main event without further small talk. There was still a bit of catching up to be done from the rest of the day, of course, but she knew there would be time to get to that once they were finally enjoying themselves. If anything, Ula's biting impatience was enough to communicate the degree to which they _desperately_ needed to chill out for a bit. Even Aurora seemed a little out of her element, which was…unusual. She and her goods were here to fix that.

She took a few paces backward and sat herself down against the pallet by which they were standing. Her friends promptly followed suit upon seeing the action, and as Aurora became the last to sit down, next to Ula, Ophelia unzipped her jacket and extracted a mid-sized glass tube with a chamber at the bottom. A miniature protrusion, which looked noticeably charred on the inside, stuck out from the side of the chamber. Aurora and the others recognized the object almost immediately.

"Ooh, we're hitting the big one this time? Quit being such a _tease!_" Ula cried yearningly.

Ophelia paid no mind to her friend's begging. She held the tube up to her face and stared down into the chamber through her shades, frowning as she did so. Something appeared to be missing.

"Carp, I forgot to bring water with me." She stated sorely. She let out a huff. "Any of you girls got something we could put in here? Or do you just want to hit it dry?"

Eight was quick to chime in, which, again, was surprising to everyone. While she didn't pass herself off as very social, she certainly seemed to be amazing at problem solving, at least from what her friends could see. Granted, her solution wasn't really the most…orthodox.

"We can just fill it with water from the canal right there."

There was a brief period where no one said anything. No one had any other ideas to provide, though…at the same time…no one objected to that solution. They didn't really concern themselves with the regality of cleanliness, considering their humble disposition as part of Inkopolis's lower class. After all, while the inklings that had just defeated them in battle were probably off getting food at Crusty Sean's truck or something, they were currently sitting under a bridge with plans to get high. Their standards were naturally very low, and…if they had to be honest with themselves…they didn't really mind that.

Ophelia shrugged. "Guess that works." She leaned forward and reached out with the bong in her hand to pass it to Eight, since she was the one who suggested the fix. "Here, you do the honors."

Eight stared blankly at the thing for a moment, as she had not expected to be singled out for the task so quickly. She certainly didn't want to keep anyone waiting, though. Admittedly, even she herself had been feeling rather hungry for a good chill session lately, despite her enthusiasm not matching up to the visible gusto of Ula's. She swiped the bong from Ophelia's outstretched hand without a word, stood herself up, and sauntered over to the canal to fulfill her request. Aurora watched her absently in the meantime.

As this was happening, Bella put a hand on her chin in an artificially thoughtful manner. "Don't you have to be pretty scummy to smoke seaweed through a bong filled with…canal water?"

Ophelia responded to her query with a challenging glare, flawed slightly by her failure to keep a straight face. "Are you saying you don't _enjoy_ being scummy? Scummy with your girls?"

Bella broke her composure with a small cackle. Her question didn't take much thought to answer. "Nah…it's not like I have anything else to look forward to these days!"

"Amen." Ula added declaratively. Her quip caused more laughter among the other two.

During her friends' playfully existential banter, while watching her friend dawdle idly toward the canal, Aurora found herself getting continuously distracted by sporadic, intrusive thoughts of the Squiffer user from earlier. Her mind kept tracing back to that moment at the end of the battle…when he had emerged from the ink and focused his weapon on her. Under his watchful gaze, defending his territory from atop the ledge, she had been completely at his mercy. There was something about that situation, standing in a helpless position beneath an opponent that handled his weapon with such unshakable conviction, that had made her hearts skip a few beats when it happened. Having fought a decent number of battles with her friends since moving to Inkopolis, she had obviously been in a few similar situations already, but…none of them seemed to strike her the way the Squiffer guy had. It was as if his physical appearance had a way of enhancing the feelings that she was already getting from having fallen into his slick, _inkling_ clutches.

During her distraction, Aurora noticed that her flustered thoughts were causing her to be rather silent around her friends. Even Eight had said more than her following the battle's conclusion, and if one was being out-talked by Eight, clearly, that meant something was up. She really didn't want to have to explain herself to them. In all honesty, she couldn't even explain herself to…well…herself. She just felt…really off for some reason. She hoped they would be too busy to notice her strange behavior.

Luckily, Eight didn't take very long. Knowing her friends were waiting for her, she made it out to the canal and back in just fifteen seconds or so, leaving Aurora to wonder if she even filled the chamber properly. It couldn't have been a big deal, though, she figured, since Ophelia would probably just catch the mistake and send her back. She was the expert on that stuff, and no one questioned it.

Eight said nothing as she extended her arm forward and presented the bong to Ophelia, who took a second to inspect it briefly. Contrary to Aurora's expectation, she gave it no more than a lazy once-over before grinning approvingly and snatching it from her hand. Eight then promptly sat back down against the pallet and let her legs splay out in front of her.

They all seemed so fired up for the occasion. While Aurora had to agree that their chill sessions were a fun way to relieve stress, she couldn't bring herself to share in their eagerness this time. Her nose turned up when Ophelia opened the bag, thanks to the all-too-familiar smell intensifying with the action. In contrast, her friends all watched Ophelia crush up pieces of the seaweed with intense, borderline-impatient glares in their eyes. Bella rubbed her hands together, Eight twiddled her thumbs expectantly, and Ula, well…Ula's excitement had already been obvious the entire time. It seemed as if their razor sharp interest in getting dull was growing stronger every day.

It took Ophelia less than a minute to break up a couple grams of the stuff and press it into the little protrusion on the bong. That's how fast it was to herself and Aurora, of course. To the other three, it might as well have been several hours. Aurora glanced at Ula a couple times during the setup and saw her nearly biting _through_ her lip in anticipation. Even as Ophelia reached into her pocket and pulled out the lighter, their friend reacted as if she were stalling.

"Alright, ladies, who wants…"

"Me! I do! It's…it's my turn. Me first." Ula exclaimed, cutting her off.

The girls all glared at her, with the exception of Aurora. Ula maintained perfect eye contact with Ophelia, her determination evident through her straight expression and complete lack of blinking. While Aurora was clearly planning to not partake in the goodies this time, she found their comedic exchange to be somewhat interesting. She glanced back and forth at both of them.

"Um…I think I'll just start us off." Ophelia muttered finally, causing Ula to sigh in exasperation. "If I hand it right to Ula, she's going to leave us all with nothing."

Ula slumped back in her spot as Ophelia and Bella shot her a smug smirk. This was the way it usually went every time they did this, and yet…somehow it never got old. Aurora personally thought Ophelia was a pretty fresh octo, so regardless of whether or not she had seaweed for the gang to pass around, she still enjoyed hanging out with her. She was also reasonably sure that Bella and Eight felt the same way, but…Ula, though? Well…sometimes she got the feeling that Ula only liked her for said greens.

Aurora wasn't even watching her friend as she brought the tube to her mouth, fired up her lighter, and ignited the crumbled mass in the bong. She did, however, hear the signature sound of churning water as Ophelia promptly sucked in a large breath through the tube, pulling a stream of hazy smoke from the seaweed in through the chamber and up to her lips. She was fascinated by how it worked, but it wasn't, by any means, a new sight to any of them. It was the ritual they all followed whenever they were together in a secluded place…whether it be by the canal, among the shipping crates at Port Mackerel, or behind some dumpsters on the stuck-up campus of Inkblot Art Academy.

That last location was a favorite of hers and Bella's, they had to admit. Smoking seaweed was among Inkopolis's most rebellious pastimes, practiced more heavily by its octoling population than any other demographic. Inkblot Art Academy was located in one of the city's richer districts, inhabited almost exclusively by snobbish, upper-class inklings, and as a result, the activity was anything _but_ prevalent there. She and Bella were unique among their friends in that they found a certain attractive element to partaking in reefer…so close in proximity to the sub-culture that strictly forbade it. The only difference between them was that Bella liked to _admit_ to being a bad girl, while Aurora didn't consider herself as such. That, of course, held no bearing on the truth.

Ophelia pulled the bong away from her face at the end of a truly monstrous toke, handing it straight to Bella with her breath faithfully held. A few seconds went by with her friends' eyes on her, waiting to see how long she would be able to contain her share before tumultuously sputtering it all out. As it turned out, they never got to see the coughing fit they were hoping for, because Ophelia's eventual exhale was smoother than a baby jellyfish's gelatinous head. The fat cloud of expended smoke drifted silently out of both her mouth and nostrils and floated away in the wind, upholding her reputation to her friends as the undisputed master of the trade.

"Has great flavor." She hummed whimsically. "Totally worth the money, if you ask me."

Bella was the next to take her hit. With the bong and lighter now in her hands, she dove right into grabbing her share with a grin on her face. Ula stared at her with intense, longing focus, like a starving child watching a feast, as she reached up and replicated Ophelia's action with the lighter. Swirling plumes of smoke flowed through the water in the chamber and into Bella's mouth as she inhaled generously, causing more bubbling to ripple through the group's ears. A small part of her was tempted to try beating Ophelia's record for volume, though…she wound up resisting the urge. Ophelia's prowess as the "drug queen" of the group was not to be challenged.

"Ooh, really racking it up there, I see." Ophelia teased as Bella pulled the bong away from her face. She responded with a pregnant flex of her eyebrows before turning toward Ula and puffing the cloud in her direction.

"Haaaaaaaaah…" She sighed dreamily as the last of the smoke was expelled from her little lungs. "…Veemo."

Bella handed the bong and lighter right to Eight, who took them both with gracious silence. Aurora's eyes followed the bong as it moved along, still planning to pass on her share when it came to her. She figured her exclusion would leave more for Ula, anyway. Her only worry was knowing what to say when Eight passed it to her, since she didn't want her friends thinking she was in a bad mood after such a loss on the battlefield. Neither did she want them prying on her distractions, for that matter. She sometimes felt like Eight was the only one that respected her boundaries.

"It hits smooth, doesn't it?" Ophelia asked as Eight began to relight the stash.

"It totally does." Bella answered with a slight lack of breath. "That dealer of yours doesn't mess around."

Ophelia took that as a compliment. She smirked. Everything her friends said sounded like a compliment when seaweed was involved. "Just gotta know who to talk to when moving to a new city."

"We've been here for a while now, though. You've been sharing this stuff with us since our very first weekend here." Bella rebutted, crossing her arms at her chest. She blinked a few times as Eight ripped a sizable mass from the bong and blew it back towards her and Ophelia. "Who is your dealer, anyway?"

Ophelia lowered her shades a bit so Bella and the others could see her eye-to-eye. She anticipated such a question to come from her friends eventually. "You know that really spazzed-out sea slug chick that runs the hat shop in the square? The one with the parrot?"

Ula gasped sharply. "You mean Flow? With the jewelry and the dreadlocks?"

"Yeah, her. Hats and glasses aren't the only things she sells, you know. I just slide her a few coins and ask nicely, and she always hooks me up." She chuckled a little at the looks of utter shock on Ula's and Aurora's faces. "Her underground business must be huge. Every shady octo I spoke to around town referred me straight to her."

"Does she sell to inklings too?" Bella chimed in curiously.

Ophelia shrugged. "Wouldn't be surprised. She certainly doesn't look like she discriminates. Trust me, though, I wouldn't go bringing this up to her. She only sells to folks she finds fresh, and if too many customers barge in looking for seaweed at the same time, she might shut down her operation for a while. Just leave the underground antics to your girl right here."

Aurora's attention was on Ophelia as she talked, but she turned the other way when she heard Eight's quiet voice address her from the side. "Aurora."

When she looked, she found her curly-haired friend leaning towards her in her spot, holding the bong and the lighter directly out in front of her. Apparently, they were having Ula take the last hit of the group, meaning it was now her turn to receive her share. She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly at Eight's friendly gesture.

"Um…that's okay. I'll pass." She uttered over the lump in her throat. She swallowed it nervously.

"_Whaaaaat?_" Bella exclaimed with wide eyes. Aurora could clearly see how pink they were getting already. "You don't want to chill out with us?"

"I didn't say that. I just said I'm going to pass on smoking today." Aurora answered staunchly. She could tell, from experience, that Bella and Ophelia were already getting kind of elevated from their bong rips. It wasn't common for her to go sober while her friends were passing goodies around, so she wasn't sure how wacky their time together was going to feel. Perhaps she was making a bit of a mistake.

Even Eight looked a bit confused. After hearing the surprising rejection from Aurora, she slumped back in her spot and set the items on her lap, frowning sadly. Ula quickly swiped the stuff from her the moment she saw the opportunity, showing little regard for her friend's peculiar lack of interest. Eight, knowing the situation, didn't try to stop her. If Aurora didn't want to partake, that was fine by her.

"Ay, suit yourself, Aurora. Now I get to take my hit _and_ yours!" Ula declared as she raised the bong to her face and started frantically working the lighter with her thumb. Even through her shades, the enthusiasm in her eyes was more than noticeable.

"Aurora, what's got you down?" Ophelia asked kindly, pulling her friend's attention away from Ula. "You know…I still got plenty of stuff left in the bag if you change your mind."

Aurora knew what the truth was. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the feelings she had caught during the battle earlier, under that one inkling boy's frigid glare atop the ledge. Every time she replayed that moment in her mind, all three of her hearts would pick up their pace for a few seconds, and her thoughts would start scattering in all directions. She remembered hearing a few stories about the strange feeling from her days back in Octo Valley. According to those stories, such feelings were supposed to occur when one was…_in love_, per say. She had only just _met_ the guy for the _first time_ today, though, so…what the hell was going on?!

It also didn't help that seaweed was a major brain-stimulant for Aurora. She could never remember much after a rocking smoke session with her friends, but one thing that always stuck with her was how hard it made her engines run. Most notable was the time she had gotten an itch on her nose while smoking by the water's edge at Camp Triggerfish, and she spent the next twenty minutes trying to describe it to her friends in excruciating detail. She couldn't slow herself down when her mind was on the grass, and if she allowed herself to partake in it while her thoughts were stuck on that inkling boy, she knew she'd be trying to kill herself before the night was up. "Chilling out," which was the euphemism her friends liked to use for getting stoned beyond all recognition, would've been nice for her this evening, but it was definitely not an option this time around, and she didn't want her friends knowing the real reason just yet.

"Just…overthinking, I guess. No big deal." She mumbled apathetically, failing to meet Ophelia's gaze.

Ula suddenly started coughing with powerful ferocity at the end of Aurora's dismissive statement, causing her and Eight to flinch a little bit. Dispersed pockets of thick, nearly opaque smoke sprayed out of the greedy octoling's mouth in all directions with each forceful hack. Aurora put her hand up to shield herself from the storm, while Bella began to laugh hysterically and kick her legs around. Ophelia even found herself chuckling a bit, at both the laughter of one friend and the choking of another. Eight ignored the shenanigans and kept her eyes on Aurora, but the higher she got from her toke, the less she could keep her gaze focused.

"Ahh, _yes!_ That shit hits the _spot!_" Ula cried triumphantly at the end of her last cough. Bella's uncontrollable laughter immediately increased in strength.

Ophelia was becoming partially deafened in one ear from her friend's cackling. Thanks to the peak she was quickly reaching on her previous hit, however, she didn't want it any other way. "Ula, the point is to pull the bowl out of the bong before topping off your breath!"

"Fuck that, 'Lia!" Ula snapped defensively. "I was given this bong to clear the rest of the stash, and clear it, I shall, dammit!"

She punctuated her defiant statement by firing up the lighter and diving in for another rip, well before having recovered from the first one. Meanwhile, Bella, who was clearly starting to hit the summit of Mount Nantai, looked as if she was going to fall into a coma. Ophelia put a hand on her shoulder for a brief moment in an effort to calm her down while trying not to let the contagious giggling spread to her. Aurora watched the spectacle unfold with a tiny grin on her face, wishing her highs could go the way Bella's often went. She also felt a bit relieved that Ula's violent coughing fit had managed to deflect attention away from her at just the right time.

"I think I just peed a little!" Bella hollered with glee, heaving vigorously like she was drowning in the canal. She reached up to wipe a few tears from her face. It still took a few more moments for her to regain her original composure, and when she did, Aurora could see the now-deepened shade of red in her eyes. Her stupid smile briefly faded alongside her last guffaw, at which point she reached down and patted her shorts with her right hand. "Scratch that…I _did_ just pee a little."

They hadn't even been at it for more than fifteen minutes, Aurora figured. And already…it seemed like her friends were having the time of their lives. Eight was the only one in the group that didn't outwardly display her enjoyment, opting instead to melt against the palette like hot asphalt and stare into the great beyond. Aurora could already see the slightest bit of drool making its way down the corner of her friend's mouth. She had just witnessed full-blown incontinence from Bella, though, so the phenomenon didn't exactly pass as gross to her. After all…this still wasn't the _craziest_ experience she had had with her friends. Their mixed personalities supplied a lot of flavor to their smoke sessions.

Ophelia waited patiently for Ula to wrap up her last succulent dosage of green before continuing with the news she had been holding in all afternoon. She had been waiting for this very moment to break it to everyone, when their systems were flowing with White Fire and their spirits were high. She already couldn't remember anything about where she had heard the news, except that it had come to her while she was shopping in Inkopolis Square. Such were the ways of Flow's mystic mojo…where only the important things could be recalled, if one was lucky.

Ula did the courtesy of emptying out both the ash and the water from the bong before handing the stuff back to Ophelia. No one commented on the fact that she had been too lazy to actually stand up and go perform the actions by the canal, since no one besides Aurora had the physical ability to get up and do it themselves. As long as it wasn't interfering with their condition right there in that very moment, it didn't matter to them at all.

"So, girls…I got some fresh news I think you're gonna love." She began with well-concealed excitement.

"You're going to pack another round?" Bella cut in.

Ophelia turned to look her dead in her dazed, rose-red eyes. With a caring smile, she extended her arm and patted her friend gingerly on the thigh. "Nah, I think you're good for now."

Bella stared back at her and her gesture without even blinking. Her strange, empty expression caused Ophelia to quickly become lost in what she was doing, and why she had just placed her hand on her friend's thigh. As long as she didn't make a sound, Ophelia didn't either, and as the seconds ticked by, their exchange became an awkward, absent-minded staring contest. Aurora looked at them both with a bit of abashment. Her friends were _weird_ when they were wrecked. Now that she actually wasn't high _with_ them for once, their eccentricity was…excessively apparent.

"Anyway…no, that's not what I was going to say." She finally stated with a shake of her head. "I found something out at the square earlier today."

"Spill it…" Ula muttered lethargically. She looked like she was a bit…wrapped up in the sensations at the moment.

Ophelia cleared her throat, which took noticeably longer than it should have. Aurora had been getting kind of sick of listening to her friends' drugged-out high-jinks, so when she heard of the possibility of some _actual_ news from Ophelia, she tuned in her attention with piqued interest. Intriguing things didn't come often enough in their lives, even in the booming city of Inkopolis. Plus, if the news was exciting enough, she hoped it would get her mind off the carp from earlier.

Finally, Ophelia let the Judd out of the bag. "There's a Splatfest coming up soon!"

"Wait, _what?_" Ula piped suddenly. She didn't move a muscle, and she still looked as glued as a toddler's science fair project, but her shock was evident in her tone of voice. "A Splatfest?!"

Bella added a heavy gasp to the mix as the news also struck her like wildfire. "Is it finally happening? We get to be in a Splatfest?"

Of all the things Ophelia could've said in that moment, this was probably the most riveting, by far. Rumors of alleged "Splatfests," the most rocking and bourgeois shindigs on the known continent, often made their rounds throughout Octo Valley during the group's younger days, and never before had they _dreamed_ of being part of one. When Aurora and the others, excluding Eight, at least, had moved to Inkopolis in search of a happier existence, following the imprisonment of DJ Octavio, they held onto the hope of a Splatfest one day giving them the welcoming celebration they felt they deserved. Thanks to a considerable "loss in translation" between the inklings in Inkopolis and the octolings in Octo Valley, only two things were known to the group of friends about the mythical events. They knew that it was essentially a glorified, overnight turf war. Everyone in the city gets to pick between two opposing sides by dinnertime the night of the festival, and battles are played from dusk to dawn to determine the superior opinion.

The other thing they knew about Splatfests made Aurora a bit nervous upon hearing the news from Ophelia. Being the city-wide events that they were, and considering their importance as the centerpiece of inkling culture, Splatfests were known to attract an abundance of couples. It's an exciting night, after all, ripe for lovers both new and old to drop their inhibitions and party like their lives depended on it. The lights, the music, and the general atmosphere made for the perfect date. Therefore, anyone who showed up to Inkopolis Square on Splatfest night without a date was essentially the _opposite_ of fresh, unless they were not intending to hook up. For Aurora, the timing could not have been worse.

"What's the, uh…the…the…" Ula paused for a moment as she struggled to remember the correct term. "…the theme, or whatever? What's the theme?"

Ophelia grinned deviously. "You ready for this?" She gave the girls a moment to nod their heads, which they all did almost instantly. No point in keeping them waiting. "It's gonna be…Looks versus Personality."

Another round of shocked reactions made its way around the group at that answer, ranging from more gasps to exaggerated exclamations. Aurora bit her lip as she, along with the others, immediately began contemplating her opinion on the two-way prompt. It was already a thrilling experience for the gang of disparaged octolings to be eligible for participation in the world's biggest showdown this year, even with the festivities still several days out. They wanted to make their votes count.

Ula spoke up rather quickly, giving her friends the impression of an adamant decision on her part. "I'm going Looks. I can get down with an octo that wants to throw me around a little bit, but if he's ugly as shit…I'd rather kick him to the curb than keep a bag over his head all the time."

Bella had to take a breather to keep herself from exploding in another fit of laughter. She cupped her hand over her mouth and spit copiously into it, earning the amused looks of several of her friends. "Damn, Ula, that is _savage!_ Even for you!"

She shrugged. "Can't stop, won't stop. For my first Splatfest…I'd say that Pearl chick has my vote."

Ula seemed to set the momentum with her vote. Nothing she ever did seemed to come from deep consideration, for she knew who she was, and her friends knew who she was as well. She stretched and fell further into her slumped position after declaring her decision, punctuating her confidence with the obvious reminder of how madly baked she had gotten. The seaweed had nothing to do with her choice, however. Her friends found Ula's answer to be sensible for the type of octo she was.

Bella replied next, after having already reacted to Ula's brash statements. "I think I also gotta go Team Looks. I've come across a few octos since coming to this city that are just…_ugh_." She threw her head back and placed a hand on her forehead in a swooning motion. "I want at least one of them to show me a good time this Splatfest, if you know what I mean. Maybe I'll hit one of them up tomorrow."

"Better watch out there, girl. I'm gonna be holding you to that one when this stuff wears off later!" Ophelia jabbed. She poked Bella's shoulder with her finger.

"Oh yeah? You don't think I have the courage to ask some sexy dudes out to the Splatfest? They'll be itching for a date just as much as the girls, you know!" Bella challenged, grabbing her friend's wrist in a tight squeeze. Ophelia giggled a bit as she tried to wriggle herself free, to no avail. "The Splatfest is a ripe time to swipe yourself a strong shoulder to lean on, 'Lia. Ask yourself…would you rather it be a meek lil' sucker with a good personality, or a total _hunk?_ One that could make you melt into ink just by looking at him?"

She eventually released her grip on Ophelia, allowing her to shake off her wrist and return it to her pocket. Bella was quite passionate, she had to give her that. Her ponytailed friend had been the first one to enter her mind upon receiving the Splatfest news in the square earlier. A Splatfest about _boys?_ What could go wrong with that? After all…she certainly had a lot to say on the topic, and out of the five of them, she was always the least apt at keeping those thoughts inside.

She did raise a good point, though. Ophelia usually had to admit that. "When you put it that way…looks _do_ seem kind of important. In a city like this, no octoling is complete without a man to stand up for her. You may be able to survive on your own, with the way you stood up to those brats earlier, but me?" She pushed her shades against her face with a hearty snort. "I'll take myself a looker. Team Looks it is."

Aurora could see the trend that was happening among her friends. She didn't want to call them shallow, since…well…they really weren't on the inside. She had seen the size of her friends' hearts during their years together, even in Octo Valley. Hell, that was primarily the reason for her friendship with them. However, it also didn't strike her as much of a surprise that they were all leaning towards Looks on a dating-related Splatfest, considering the starvation they had suffered from boys since moving to the big city. She herself was even tempted to join them on Team Looks, since, like them, _nothing_ turned her on more than a stylish, fresh companion to hold her reigns.

The problem was…she still only had _one_ companion in mind. It may just be infatuation, she wanted to tell herself, from the events of the day, but she felt strongly like the sensation wasn't going to die when she woke up the next morning. Also, she knew that her likelihood of ending up with said companion for the Splatfest was incredibly low. So far in the conversation, her friends had been talking exclusively about snagging _octoling_ boys for the festivities, which only served to frustrate her further. Why was she interested in an _inkling?_ Why did her mind and her hearts want to torture her with the desire for a date she could never satisfy? Shouldn't she know where her place was in Inkopolis by now?

She wouldn't let her thoughts stop there, though. She figured she could learn a few things from Bella's determination, at least. While her friends seemed more concerned with just hooking up for the Splatfest, Aurora wanted something that would stretch _beyond_ merely the next week…into the next Splatfest, perhaps. And the one after that. And the one after _that_. It was something she had never experienced before…and she had been longing for it _long_ before laying eyes on that stupid, irresistible inkling at the end of the battle earlier. No one ever achieved happiness by waiting for the stars to align, she reminded herself. Therefore, she decided she was going to go for it. _Fuck_ what everyone had to say.

Now…what team would an inkling like him be more likely to choose for the Splatfest?

"…I'm going Team Personality." Aurora blurted suddenly.

Everyone in the group, including Eight, looked right at her. Surveying her stoned friends' faces, she sensed confusion among them. It wasn't immediately obvious if said confusion was positive or negative, at least from her limited perspective. They might've been expecting her to vote the same way as them, both for her shared interest in physically attractive mates, and for the natural assumption that she'd want to fight her first Splatfest by her best friends' sides. Either way, they did not know her true intentions, nor the fact that she preferred looks over personality just as much as they did. Whether she was eventually going to tell them…remained an uncertainty in her head.

"Wha…huh? Personality?" Bella stammered.

Aurora nodded her head.

"…Why?" Ula added with a skeptical tinge in her voice.

Just as Aurora was about to try explaining herself with a messy, elaborate lie, as she was planning to do from the very beginning, Eight spoke up out of the blue. The seaweed had made her completely and utterly silent, even more so than usual, so her input managed to add more upheaval to the mix for the other three. Aurora was saved from the spotlight for the third time that day, thanks to her quiet and modest friend stepping in for her. She had to remember to thank her later.

"I'll go Personality too. If Aurora wants to put her eggs in that basket, I think she deserves a wing-girl." She stated softly. After going the entire session without talking nor coughing, her voice sounded a bit raspy.

Aurora gave her a small, weak smile, a thankful gesture in the face of adversity. The others were probably going to need a few moments to digest what had just happened. They usually shared a general dynamic of agreement on just about everything, so their surprise at Aurora's divergence became a double-decker when Eight took the initiative to join her. Their closely-knit friend group was going to be split nearly down the middle for their very first Splatfest. This year's festivities were going to be interesting.

"Wow…" Ophelia finally uttered. "…me, Bella, and Ula…versus you and Eight. Can't say I expected this to happen!"

Aurora couldn't help but notice Bella's face, which hadn't changed much since the moment she had heard her strange team decision. She was expecting her friend to overreact a little bit at the fact that they were going to be fighting the Splatfest separately, as she often did about everything when she was on the drugs. With Bella's still-confused eyes fixated on her own, Aurora anticipated a question brewing in her mind. She didn't have to wait long to hear it, though, luckily.

"I always thought you liked…you know…_hot_ dudes. Attractive ones. Like the rest of us." She trailed off for a moment while continuing to make eye contact with her. "Who exactly are you into, Aurora?"

The question landed on the intimidated octoling like an anvil in a cartoon. Another nervous twinge arose in her chest as she, once again, struggled to formulate a satisfying fib. Somehow…she doubted she would be getting out of this one.

"…Who am _I_ into? Well…I…uhh…"

**Author's Note:** Hello again! Dipping my foot into Splatoon writing now, as I promised. :) I've already written and posted a second chapter to this as well, so if you're intrigued, the adventure is just getting started! Seeing as how the events, characters, and language in this story are quite different from what I had written for Breath of the Wild, I'm excited to see how this one goes. I've already gotten a bit liberal with the adult themes here…as you've probably seen. I hope this one is just as enjoyable to read as my others!

To add to the fun, I'm planning to create a Source Filmmaker poster for every chapter of this story, for the purpose of visualizing the characters and getting a feel for the chapter content. Hopefully those of you who intend to follow me in the development of this story will enjoy checking them out! I'll be posting them on both my Twitter and Tumblr pages the moment the new chapters are released, so don't hesitate to follow me, mikeanthony321, on those platforms if you're interested! The poster for this chapter (and chapter 2) should already be there. :D

Lastly, a bit of a disclaimer going forward for the enthusiastic bunch. ;) Please be patient with me on this one. My previous story, Offspring, was receiving weekly chapter updates at the time it was first released, since I was just freshly starting out with video game fanfiction at the time. However, I'm currently putting a lot of my efforts towards college, and I work a hearty internship at a tech company in my neighboring city. I've been crazy busy with life lately, so these updates are not going to be NEARLY as frequent. Just know that you WILL receive an update on my Twitter/Tumblr if something happens regarding the development of this work. Otherwise, if a new chapter hasn't come out in a while, just assume that I'm dealing with a lot of work and will be getting a chapter out whenever I can. I really appreciate everyone who sticks with my stuff to the bitter end. :3


	2. Chapter 2: The Encounter

The afternoon passed quickly after the bong made its rounds. The rainmaker battle under the bridge had begun around an hour or two after lunchtime, and by the time Ophelia had taken her first hit of the goodies, the sun was already starting to sneak toward the western horizon. The group was not finished after Ula's generous double-helping, though, thanks to an ever-growing uproar of nagging from her and Bella to refill the chamber and ignite a hasty round two. The Splatfest voting would last for several days, they reasoned, so there was no rush to stow their stuff and super-jump back to the downtown area right away. They found it more suiting to stay back and celebrate for a bit longer.

The decision didn't really bode well for Aurora, much to her embarrassment. Her friends' pestering had amped up a bit after she announced her team vote, resulting in a brief interrogation session that had left her sweating. Apparently, "nobody" was not an answer Bella nor the others were willing to accept when asking about love interests, even while they were mentally incapacitated on seaweed. They were all brutally honest with each other when they were on the stuff, and it seemed like they were kind of expecting the same out of her, especially when her answer had sent their suspicions through the roof. Eight was the only one that remained silent during the ordeal, likely out of respect for her friend's clear discomfort under scrutiny.

Despite her shy nerves and ignominious developing crush, Aurora was still looking forward to her first Splatfest. Seldom spoken were her and her friends' joyless years in the grim, sprawling trenches of Octo Valley, alienated from the extravagancies of inkling culture and the Great Zapfish that gave it all its power. The Splatfest was a legend they were finally about to live for themselves after growing up on nothing but natural light and limited rations. Music, dancing, drinks, heart-throbbing turf wars, _boys_…they were going to get intoxicated on _all of it_. Aurora's immigration by her friends' sides made her a changed octoling, and when Off the Hook took that stage in less than a week, she would be celebrating her life's upturn to the fullest extent. She didn't care how she would do it.

Today, however, she had gotten carried away with her infatuations. In the end, Aurora wound up regretting her choice to abstain from smoking with the others. She had managed to bend awkwardly around her friends' questions until they eventually lost interest and continued talking about the Splatfest, which gave her some relief for the time being. She knew it wasn't going to be the end of it yet, anyway. As the Splatfest, now the talk of everyone in the city, drew closer, day by day…she anticipated at least a couple of her friends to start introducing her to some lucky octo boys, assuming they'd manage to be as charming as they claim. Ula would struggle a bit in that department, she felt, though she caught a bit of guilt thinking about it. Regardless, once the hot pieces started rolling in, her friends were going to start wondering where the hell hers were. The truth was…she was beside herself with thoughts about the inkling with the Squiffer…coupled with daydreams of spending her first Splatfest with him. Her beans were going to spill eventually, and then…who knew what would follow?

* * *

About an hour into their second run, the group began to develop a gnarly craving for junk food. They each had eaten only small morsels for lunch earlier, ignoring the obvious fact that they were going to suffer for it as a result. Everyone in the gang, Aurora included, had dangerously gluttonous appetites. It was one of the few traits they all shared as a group. Therefore, they collectively agreed to cut their session short, gather their weapons and belongings, and jump back to the city to satisfy their pangs and place their Splatfest votes. Crusty Sean's selection of deep-fried, high-calorie snacks were on the mischievous octolings' minds primarily, and his truck was conveniently located right in the bustling center of Inkopolis Square.

Everyone's shadows were steadily getting longer as Aurora and her friends approached the famous food truck from down the street. As the square, Inkopolis's most popular hangout spot, came into view, the group realized they would be spending quite a bit of time there that evening. The line for the food truck stretched all the way to the entrance of the nearby arcade, and the line for the Splatfest kiosk stretched even farther. They already knew, from Ophelia's news, that the Splatfest had first been announced just earlier that day, but none of them could've expected the square to become so…_busy_ as a result.

There were inklings everywhere. Aurora and the others had no trouble locating a few octolings in the mix, though their numbers were severely lacking in comparison. Not a single empty table could be found in the area, nor was there a bench in sight that wasn't straining under the weight of crowds of inklings laughing and happily trying on their new Splatfest t-shirts. Inklings in their squid form even dotted the sidewalks, slithering and jumping around among their friends, who stood against the walls of the shops with their cellphones out. It was kind of an impressive spectacle, they had to admit, considering how underpopulated the square had been at lunchtime.

Bella bit her lip as she surveyed the square's incredible density. "Are you girls sure this is a good idea? I still feel a little bit high right now, and…there are _tons_ of inklings here."

Aurora glanced over at her and risked another few words. "Would you be more comfortable if they were octolings?"

"Yes, actually. At least octolings are more likely to forgive us for walking near them with seaweed smell on our asses!" She answered frantically.

"Hey, hey." Ophelia cut in. She waited until she had Bella's attention, and then she imitated a slow, calming, deep breath. "Just relax. Paranoia seems to get you good on this stuff."

Bella had seemed a lot more at ease by the canal, since she was surrounded by friends and nobody else. It was also much easier for her to mouth off to disdainful inklings when there were only a few of them, unlike the hordes that populated the square. Not being perfectly sober certainly didn't help either. She simply had to remind herself that most denizens of the city were friendly and accepting. The prejudiced few were exactly that. The few.

Ula led the charge into the square, caring little to none about her and her friends' impaired state. She was known for being stubbornly direct with what was on her mind, and right now…her hunger was the only thing on her mind. Aurora followed closely behind her, with Eight picking up her stride thereafter. Eventually, Bella and Ophelia lagged along. Bella was the only one in the group that showed any sort of nervous energy.

"These lines don't seem to end." Ula muttered irritably. She turned around and panned her gaze across her friend group. "How are we going to do this?"

Aurora took a peek around Ula at the gargantuan queues that seemed to snake all around the square. If they were lucky, she and her friends were looking at a wait of about twenty minutes…in each line. They were all starving, and with both Bella's paranoia and Ula's gripey impatience nipping down her neck, Aurora felt like it was going to feel much longer. Cutting the line would obviously result in public ridicule, especially if they chose to piss off the wrong inklings, so they essentially had no choice but to endure each line individually and hope they moved quickly.

Just as she was about to swallow her minor trepidation and submit to the wait, Eight surprised the group again by providing another clever suggestion. "Well…we could split up. You three can wait for the food truck, since you have the tickets on you, and Aurora and I can stand in line for the Splatfest thing. We'll be on the other team, after all."

For a few seconds, no one said anything, just like the last time Eight had provided a suggestion. Eight was easily the most passive member of the group, and she was always open to objections, but no one ever had any to give. Whenever she threw in some input, her friends' problems were always solved.

"That's…a pretty good idea, actually. We should be able to cut the wait time in half if we do that." Aurora added. "As long as you guys manage to get our food before we finish placing our votes."

Ophelia shrugged, prompting both Bella and Ula to do the same. Once again, it was the best idea they had. "Alright, fair enough. Tell us what you want from Crusty's so we know what to get."

Aurora answered almost immediately. No matter the day nor the time, she always got the same thing from the Crust Bucket. It was surprising that Ophelia didn't already have her order memorized. "Double-Fried Super Schwaffle and a Special-Charge Shake, please."

"Extra whipped cream, right?" Ophelia asked, pointing at her for confirmation.

"Right." She nodded her head. Maybe Ophelia knew her order after all, she thought. Or maybe it was just a lucky guess.

Ophelia and the others looked to Eight for her order after Aurora's reply. Eight met her friends' gaze and knew it was her turn to answer, despite their silence. She cleared her throat softly.

"…Main-Up Guava is fine."

Ophelia waited for a second. Another second. One more. An awkward silence eventually settled among the group as they each waited for Eight to say something else…but she never did. Either her high had completely worn off, or…she just wasn't hungry somehow. Or both.

"Is…Is that all?" Ophelia stammered. "The Grizz pays me well in tickets too, you know. There's…definitely no shortage."

"…I'm alright."

Irked by her friends' cumbersome exchange, Ula cut the discussion short by throwing her arms above her head in a fake stretch. The loud, exaggerated exclamation she made nearly interrupted Eight's last response. "News flash, everyone; Eight doesn't want any food. Now, I don't know about either of you, but I'm going to get two Galactic Seanwiches and a Short-Respawn Mocha with an espresso shot!"

Bella let out a robust scoff, causing some spit to settle in her bandana. "Chill out, Ula, you're literally going to _kill yourself_ with an order like that."

"Works out for you, then." Ula fired back through the uncompromising glint of her shades. "It'll be easier for you to pry my mocha from my cold, dead tentacles."

"Your tentacles aren't even going to _be_ dead for at least another twelve hours if you drink a _mocha_ around dinnertime." Bella returned with crossed arms. "And that's not even getting _into_ the number of calories you'd be tacking on with _two_ Galactic Seanwiches."

Ula stared at her friend with an ever-increasing level of vexation. She couldn't immediately tell if Bella was being serious…or if she was just trying to mess with her again. "Since when did you become my mom? Let me consume my calories in peace for once."

"Alright, well…we're going to go wait in the other line now." Aurora declared suddenly, sensing the rising tension between the two bickerers. Eight nodded her head in agreement.

"Cool, we'll catch up to you soon." Ophelia answered dutifully. She pretended, ineffectively, to ignore the typical episode unfolding in front of her. "I'll just go stand in the food line…with these two…for a while."

While it was clear that Ophelia's sendoff was an implicit cry for help, Aurora and Eight made haste to flee the scene before they could witness any more quarreling from Bella and Ula. As Aurora sloppily shimmied her way through some of the bystanders in the crowd on her way to the back of the kiosk line, she did not look back. Eight followed behind her with similar urgency, though she had no issue dodging and sliding through the masses with skillful agility. They both knew how Bella and Ula got when their highs started to decline, especially if late-day exhaustion played an additional factor. They found it better to bail on that trainwreck before it had the chance to escalate.

Luckily for them, finding the back of the kiosk line didn't prove to be a difficult task. While it did seem to weave around a little bit, its end was not too far away from the center of the square, well in their sight from their original spot by the food truck. Even though their line was longer than the food line, it seemed to them like they were going to be reaching the front around the same time as the others. After all, placing a vote at a kiosk and receiving a t-shirt didn't seem like the kind of activity that would take longer than waiting for food to be prepared. They just hoped the others would finish in their line soon enough to join them before they could finish the deed and have to wait in the line a second time.

Upon reaching the line's tail, Aurora was the first to plant her feet in her spot and begin waiting. Eight stepped around to the other side of her and did the same, opting as usual to do so without saying a word. They stood behind two sunny-looking inkling girls, both wearing flip-flops and skimpy tank-tops and giggling innocently over something they couldn't hear. The sound of it was quite inviting, as were the numerous, peaceful sounds of fellow citizens enjoying the city. The evening sun on their skin was always welcome, too.

Aurora didn't mind busy settings so much. Though her social skills were nothing to write home about, she rather enjoyed how clear her mind became as an average bystander in the presence of ambient crowds. They were a way to keep her grounded, in a sense. Her tranquility just depended on there being no unexpected disturbances, which, on the flip side, were more likely in populated areas. Her and her friends' repressed memories from their first days in Inkopolis could attest the dangers of living as an octoling in an inkling's world.

In the process of casually surveying her surroundings, while remembering what she was standing in line for in the first place, Aurora's thoughts eventually trailed back to the upcoming Splatfest. The tension in the turf wars had to be _ludicrous_, she imagined, considering the extra weight placed on the victories. The atmosphere was going to be invigorating as well, as she and the others had never battled it out after dusk before, let _alone_ with the festival lights and booming audiences that were likely going to accompany the venues. Also…there was the thought about splatting it up against _Bella, Ula, _and _Ophelia_ for once, which…had some of its own effects on her. She pictured a scenario of herself and Eight, donning the color of Team Personality, facing off against their three friends in a venue like Moray Towers under the starry, night sky…with a _stadium's worth_ of inklings watching from the high-rise parking structures nearby. Needless to say, the thought caused a small rush of adrenaline to course through her chest.

Everyone knew, though, that turf wars weren't the only things that defined the Splatfest. Getting to splat her friends on the battlefield was one thing, but having such thoughts led Aurora to wonder just what was going to come of her friends in the event…and whether they were really going to grab themselves dates for the festivities. There was _no way_ they were going to be able to land any of the hot ones, right? The girls had a fun range of personalities, of course, and she knew they were feisty enough to find out how to please a boy if they wanted to, but she couldn't picture them being capable of wooing guys that were out of their leagues.

She certainly wouldn't blame them for trying, however. For the expense of only some minor humiliation, at worst, the reward of putting themselves out into the dating sphere was well worth the risk. After all, nothing was more titillating to Aurora than the thought of getting swept off her feet by a confident stud under the raving strobe lights of a roaring Splatfest.

With that imagery now passing through her, she shifted rather quickly to the inevitable. The inkling boy with the Squiffer came flooding back into her mind full force, saturating her senses with the illusory sensations of a powerful fantasy.

_He came with no warning, pushing fellow inklings aside as he approached her at her spot, eyes fixed assuredly on her own. He wore his Squiffer proudly on his back as a message of defiance to any of his potential opposers. Off the Hook's wild and fresh beats filled the square around them in the moments preceding their union, gripping them both with the same euphoric energy that embodied the greatest event in Inkopolis history. Their eye contact did not break as he stepped right up to where she stood and placed his hands on her shoulders. He studied her…seeing for himself the curves she flaunted under her shorts and her Team Personality t-shirt, the hypnotizing glint of the party lights on her full-moon glasses, and the expectant plea for his touch in her feminine body language._

_He did not hesitate to oblige to her desire by wrapping his arms around her hips and pulling her towards him for a silent kiss. His face, at point-blank, was the last thing she saw as she melted completely against her inkling lover, her eyes closing after falling victim to the overwhelming sensation of his lips against hers. Her appendages fell limp at the mercy of his embrace under the stars, surrounded by countless dozens of partygoers with dumbfounded looks on their faces. Their stares only worked to escalate her excitement._

_The nameless inkling with the Squiffer worked away at her like that, slowly, until he could _feel_ the readiness in her through his hands and his pelvis. He knew how badly she wanted him. Hell, in the heat of the moment, he knew _everything_ about her. He was about to show his octoling prey the proper way _inklings_ celebrated the Splatfest, and he had his weapon poised on his back in case anyone wanted to object to it. It all began with the work of his hands against the back of her waist…and the gentle tug they made against the bottom seam of her t-shirt…morphing subtly into a blooming tingle as he snuck them underneath the fabric. A dull whine escaped her throat, against her every effort to withhold it, resulting from her insatiable craving for the final deed. She wanted _more. _And luckily for her…he knew that, too._

"Aurora, are you okay?" Eight's voice chimed suddenly.

Aurora, after jumping a mile in her skin, blinked a few times. Her visions of intimacy ended as soon as her daydream was interrupted, leaving her gazing awkwardly at Eight while regathering herself. Her friend's expression seemed to reflect a bit of…concern.

"Um…what?" She cleared her throat a few times, though they both knew she didn't really need to. "What did you say?"

"I just asked if you were okay. You've been acting kind of strange today." Eight reiterated. Aurora could practically count the number of sentences Eight had spoken today on one hand, so her choice to initiate a conversation came as a bit of a shock.

"I'm…I'm not acting strange. _You've_ been acting strange." She babbled defensively.

Eight kept her eyes fixated on Aurora's. Her expression did not change at all. Aurora waited a moment for her to say something, or to at least reciprocate, but…once again…she got nothing. After a few seconds, Eight merely shrugged her shoulders and returned her attention to the front of the line. Aurora had no way of knowing whether such an apathetic response was born of actual apathy, forgiveness, annoyance, or outright contempt. Nothing Eight ever did nor said could be deciphered that easily, and quite frankly, it often drove her nuts.

Eventually, she cracked. The defeated sigh she gave off caused Eight to turn back toward her. "Okay, I'm just…a little embarrassed, I guess."

Eight raised a brow, showing more interest all of a sudden. "Embarrassed? …What for?"

Already, Aurora hadn't expected to get this far in the conversation with her friend. She didn't talk to Eight much, especially without her other friends around, so she couldn't exactly understand why she felt compelled to confess her afternoon to her. Perhaps it was because she felt desperate to get the words out to someone, and Eight was easily the most indifferent and absorbing octo in her friend group. At least…that's how Aurora perceived her. Standing next to her like that, gal-to-gal…gave her just enough comfort in the matter.

"I don't know…just all this talk about boys…" She muttered.

"The Splatfest?"

"…Yeah, I suppose." She acknowledged with a nod. Her eyes were focused on the ground, but she could still see Eight looking directly at her with a cocked head through the corner of her sight. "I kind of hope I can get a date…"

Eight maintained her gaze. Aurora knew she was being looked at, and she deliberately avoided looking back at her because of it. She felt a bit sensitive about the situation, even with the twinge of confidence she got talking to her, since…she found it to be less of a laughing matter than her friends did. She had no evidence that Eight would sympathize with her, or if she would shrug it off carelessly like she did with everything else. She also felt irrationally worried about getting called out by her impassive companion for the reality of things.

Eight hadn't put all the pieces of the puzzle together yet, though. "I would like a date, too. It sounds nice."

Aurora grinned just slightly. "Mmm…it does."

"Our friends seem to think it's nice, as well." Eight added. "What could be embarrassing about it, then?"

The closer Aurora got to the breaking of the ice, the more nervous she became. She could only hope that Eight would take the news lightly, and…in addition…that no one standing near them would overhear her. Why was she picking now to come clean, anyway? What was it about Eight that made her feel more secure about doing so? Nothing made sense, it seemed.

Most of her response came out as a long, incomprehensible stutter. "It's just…I…you see…there's…er…"

"…Is there someone you like?" Eight asked, saving Aurora from her dead end.

"Yes! Yes, there, um…there is. Thank you." She let out another huff, which Eight interpreted as weary. She was just so incredibly _bad_ at explaining things sometimes.

Just then, the departure of a large group at the front spurred movement from the line. Aurora and Eight walked forward with it accordingly, making a subconscious effort to avoid getting too close to the inkling girls ahead of them. They looked like a friendly pair, sharing laughs and good vibes with each other, but that didn't keep Aurora and Eight from playing it safe anyway. Their business was their own, and as long as they kept it that way with strangers, there was never a chance of encountering any issues in public. Such rules sat engrained in their heads…almost as much as their ability to morph into octo form.

"It's okay to have a crush, Aurora." Eight mentioned as soon as they stopped moving again. Her gaze remained on her even still, having never left since the moment Aurora had begun to talk to her. Aurora couldn't help but be a bit impressed with the amount of openness her otherwise-silent friend was displaying. It only made sense that her behavior was a result of her other friends' absence at the moment.

She glanced up at her in an effort to stop looking so awkward, and her gaze met Eight's for a brief moment. "Do…Do you have a crush too?"

Her question was met with another long pause. Eight's gaze fell to the side a bit, her emotionless expression seeming to change…without actually changing…to suggest thoughtfulness. Aurora began to grow aware of the ambient noises around her again from the conversation's sudden halt, and for a few seconds, she thought her question was going to go unanswered. When she did finally hear her response, she found it to be a bit…lackluster.

"…I'm not sure."

Aurora let that reply ring in her head for a second. She couldn't help but be curious about what it meant, and whether it would've been unfair to ask her more about it while having yet to reveal her own crush. She didn't get many opportunities to talk to her friends individually, so she found herself developing a nagging urge to know more details about Eight. There was also the fact that Eight had been quick to ditch the rest of her friends in favor of joining her on Team Personality, despite not knowing her true intentions behind choosing it in the first place. Maybe they could go shopping at Arowana Mall sometime to catch up a little more before the Splatfest. She figured they could also grab a bite and watch a few turf wars there while they were at it.

That question would have to come later, though. While Aurora was pondering this, she heard the sound of a group of footsteps heading in their direction from behind, accompanied by a flurry of male voices. She and Eight kept their eyes forward as the footsteps grew closer, until they eventually came to a stop right behind them. The voices continued, of course, carrying with them the sounds of plain, intermingled conversation. From what she could hear, Aurora assumed it to be a group of dudes…_inkling_ dudes, that was…entering the line behind them. Her spot in the line was already starting to feel a bit cramped for her comfort.

Her better judgement told her to avoid interaction with the boys, considering her position amongst them. She and Eight only had themselves to rely on for a while, and the more she listened to their idle shuffling, the more she could hear the sounds of…weapons. In particular, two heavy thumps pattered through her ears around the same time the footsteps stopped, suggesting that a couple of them were hoisting some behemoths around the square. Didn't they know it was illegal to open-carry splat weapons around the city square?

Aurora only managed to ignore the arriving group for ten to fifteen seconds before subtly glancing over her shoulder, her curiosity having quickly betrayed her. It was a bit difficult to catch a glimpse of the boys without making her interest obvious to them, since they were standing almost directly behind her and Eight. A couple of them were standing just far enough to the side for her to see them with the corner of her eye. When she did so…she gasped sharply and nearly collapsed into her octo form.

It was the Squiffer inkling. He was standing directly behind her and Eight. Though she had only caught the briefest of glances before turning back around, she noticed his head buried in his phone…and his weapon strapped cozily to his back. He still had his headphones on, so he likely hadn't heard her little exclamation upon seeing him. At that point, it didn't take a detective to know that the rest of the boys behind them were actually her and her friends' opponents from the battle earlier. She did _not_ expect to see them here at such a time.

Aurora suddenly stood with considerable discomfort in her stance. Her foot began tapping gently as a hint of nervous energy worked its way into her. Clearly, fate was giving her this chance…right? Or was it a warning? Was she supposed to make a move? Was something going to happen on its own? After all…she had just finished having an _embarrassingly_ intimate daydream about this guy, and…now he was standing right behind her. What were his friends going to think if she did something?

"Aurora…?"

"Hmm? What?" She jolted. Eight seemed to be glaring at her, looking concerned again.

"I'm just checking on you."

"Oh…I'm fine. Nothing's wrong."

Eight raised a brow. "…Nothing?" She leaned to the side a bit so she could get a better look at the inklings standing behind them. "…Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, Eight. I'm just…thinking about stuff." Why did the quietest of all her friends suddenly have to know everything so insistently? Now that the subject of her abashment was standing within ten feet of her, her confidence was completely gone.

"…I would like to help." Eight stated blankly.

Aurora put a hand on her hip and shot her friend a slightly annoyed look. "You would like to help me think about stuff?"

Eight didn't seem at all fazed by her sarcastic remark. She shook her head slowly while maintaining her usual, featureless expression. "No, I would like to help you feel better. You seem stressed."

"Oh, well…" She greatly appreciated her friend's selflessness, though…she wished it didn't have to be at such a bad time. "…that's really nice of you, but…it's kinda…hard to explain right now."

Eight cocked her head a second time. She seemed increasingly invested in what was going on with her friend. She thought she was being fairly outgoing, but…Aurora didn't seem to want to reciprocate her advances. It felt like a good time to see what had been making her act so _tense_ since the battle earlier, seeing as how they were standing alone with each other while their loud and manic friends were busy in the other line. Strangely, however, she got the feeling that Aurora didn't truly feel _alone_ while standing next to her. She seemed to be acting like someone was breathing down her neck.

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted. She turned at the same time Aurora jumped, both having been stirred by the voice of one of the inkling boys behind them.

"Hey, look what Judd dragged into the square!" The voice uttered snootily. "It's the adorable lil' _octo girls_ from the canal!"

"Heeey, you're right!" Another voice chimed. Almost immediately, three of the four inklings proceeded to chatter wildly about Aurora and Eight. Aurora closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath as she felt their collective glares fall onto her. Apparently she didn't even have to interact with them to fuck _that_ up.

"Where are your lil' _friends?_" The first voice jabbed. "Off losing another turf war? Or maybe sharing needles behind a dumpster again?"

Rounds of laughter trickled from the conceited group, and Aurora was silently wishing that Bella was with her at the moment. Bella knew how to deflect verbal attacks like a master…a _black-belt_ in sass. Surely, she would know how to put the Squiffer guy's brutish pals in their places. For this one, though…she and Eight would have to deal with their crap on their own. They both turned to face the gang, figuring there was no longer any point to ignoring their presence. It was then that Aurora got a proper eyeful of the boys.

True to what she had suspected, the rest of them were all carrying their weapons in the square, in clear defiance of the city's regulations. Both the .96 Gal dude and Aurora's favorite Squiffer guy stood with their weapons harnessed to their backs, while the guys with the Splatling and the Dynamo Roller kept their colossal weapons poised on the ground next to them. The Splatling guy, who had also been the one mocking her friends a second ago, was leaning on his weapon as if it were a lamppost on a shady street-corner. He wore the most puffed-up-looking grin Aurora had ever seen, looking visibly satisfied with his rather assumptive insults. Aurora also noticed, from closer inspection, that he was dressed entirely in black, with a FishFry bandana around his head, a long-sleeved Kensa coat, and a pair of pitch-black hi-top shoes, the brand of which was unclear to her. To put it nicely…he looked pretty edgy.

In contrast, the guy with the Squiffer…her rapidly-developing crush…was looking as fresh as ever under the evening sun. His head was tilted down while he scrolled through his phone, causing the floppy appendage of his hair to droop almost entirely over his right eye. Even just standing there with his usual lack of interest, he looked immensely cute to her. That also wasn't to say that _everything_ he did wasn't with an alluring degree of deliberation. He presented himself as the type that _never_ hesitated, _never_ second-guessed himself, and _never_ made mistakes. Right down to his wide-legged stance, in fact, he was proving to the entire world that he wasn't taking crap from _anybody_. Aurora couldn't get enough of it. He was _everything_ she wanted in a Splatfest date.

"Are you gonna answer me?" The Splatling guy jeered suddenly.

Aurora shook her head a few times to rid herself of her trance. Every time she started looking at, or even _thinking_ about, the inkling with the Squiffer…she seemed to lose touch with her surroundings. "Uh…my friends? They're…um…they're not…here right now."

"Well…no shit! I can already see that!" He replied with a slightly raised voice, which startled Aurora a bit. He then stopped for a moment and gave a quick sigh, which looked to her and Eight like an attempt to regain his composure. Finally, he continued at his original volume. "What are you two doing here at this time of day? The slums are on the other end of town, you know."

Yikes, this guy was becoming a bit harsh. Aurora and the others had assumed, after his mocking at the battle earlier, that the Splatling guy was just a cocky and competitive individual. Ever since he got into the line behind them, however, she and Eight noticed that his insults were getting kind of…directed. They started catching on to their pattern.

She shrugged it off to avoid any escalation. It didn't help that Eight seemed too reluctant to step in and say something on her behalf. "We're…just waiting to vote for the Splatfest."

The Splatling crossed his arms. "Ahh…that's cute. You octos think you're gonna contribute to the Splatfest this year? You think you're gonna win it big?"

"I don't know…" Aurora responded sheepishly. She began tapping her fingers together as she struggled to make eye contact with the haughty inkling. "…We were hopefully just gonna have some fun…"

He grinned again. "You hear that, guys? The lil' octo girls are gonna have themselves some _fun_ this year!" He glared back at her smugly while the other two guys chuckled amongst themselves. The Squiffer dude still didn't react, as he was still distracted by whatever was on his phone.

The .96 Gal spoke up from behind his friend. "What team will you octos be slithering into this year?"

Aurora was quickly getting off tilt by how often the boys were referring to them as "octos." Her and Eight's species didn't seem like an important detail to her, yet…in talking to this group of inklings…she couldn't seem to stop receiving the reminder. The way they kept saying it, especially with their condescending tone, left a really bad taste in her mouth. And that wasn't even getting _into_ the offensive jokes they were pulling about her friends.

"We're both going Team Personality." She answered as boldly as she could, with the tallest stance she could muster.

"Oh, brilliant." The Splatling muttered. "Maybe our goody-two-shoes Squiffer will carry you enough to win a battle for once. If you're lucky, that is. He thinks he's too fresh to go Team Looks like the rest of us."

At this, Aurora perked up a bit. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? The Squiffer guy was going to be on Team Personality with her? Her eyes widened a bit as she felt a flutter of excitement course through her. She had taken a huge risk jumping onto the opposite team as her friends on such a fragile whim, but it seemed like it was going to pay off! Of course, her team selection wasn't final until the moment she voted at the kiosk and received her t-shirt, so if she had heard of the guy going for Team Looks instead, she would've probably changed her mind in response. Still, the news filled her with elation, and she spent the next few moments trying to hide the fact from everyone around her.

"He's going to be…with us?" She asked timidly.

The Splatling guy turned to the Squiffer guy and addressed him by name, completely ignoring Aurora's question and catching her off guard. "Yo, Midas!"

The Squiffer guy glanced up from his phone with a certain sense of disinterest, having faintly heard his name through his headphones. He turned his head toward the Splatling guy and paused his music. "What's up?"

Aurora blushed a bit when she heard his name for the first time. It seemed his name was Midas, apparently. It was a name more closely tied with the inklings, who, unlike the octolings, were less likely to put vowels at the ends of their names. She felt like the name was rather suiting for him, at least from the impression she had of him. It immediately struck a chord with her, as with many of his other features. She, of course, loved it.

"Just a fair warning to you, if you're still planning to fight against us on Team Personality." The Splatling guy lectured his friend, his grin steadily fading. He pointed at Aurora and Eight. "You're gonna be stuck with these octo girls from earlier today if you do."

In following his friend's pointed finger, Midas turned to look at Aurora. As he did so, he reached up with his free hand and brushed aside the hair appendage that was covering his eye. He did so in order to clear his view and get a better look at the girls, but…unbeknownst to him…Aurora found the gesture to be _extremely_ tantalizing. Just watching him _stare_ at her again, with _both_ of his eyes, she felt a jump in her heartrate, coupled with a warm tingling sensation that seemed to bloom upwards from her chest into her cheeks. She figured her blush must've deepened by quite a bit, adding to the embarrassment she felt.

Aurora frantically tried to find a way to mask how she was feeling all of a sudden, but nothing was coming to mind. Before long, she feared that her attraction was going to start becoming obvious to someone, which was certainly _not_ the way she wanted anyone finding out, especially Midas himself. It was _insanely_ unnatural for an attraction to feel so strong within mere hours of first sight, she thought. What was going on? And how badly were these feelings going to escalate in the few days leading up to the Splatfest?

Finally, Aurora responded to Midas's glare in the only way that felt appropriate to her. She tucked her arm against her hip, and…with her other arm…she waved at him. She tried to be cute while doing so, meeting his gaze directly and flashing him an innocent, toothy smile. She shifted her stance onto one foot and raised her other knee slightly before realizing it, contributing involuntarily to her mediocre, unrehearsed flirting stance.

Midas watched the display with skepticism. He gave her a quick once-over, glimpsing at everything on her figure: from her Full-Moon glasses, past her exposed shoulders under her long-sleeve Annaki Drive t-shirt, down to her black Truffle Canvas hi-tops. The only physical reaction she seemed to get from him was a raised eyebrow. His expression didn't change, he didn't speak, and he certainly didn't wave back at her. A couple seconds went by like that, with his ongoing silence slowly eating a hole in the back of Aurora's mind. Ultimately…he never acknowledged her gesture. Instead, he wound up turning back to the Splatling guy and shrugging his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter that much. I probably won't end up battling with them anyway." He mumbled before looking back down at his phone. His hair appendage drooped back in front of his eye, but he didn't bother to adjust it again.

Aurora's smile dissolved rather quickly after that. Her waving hand fell back to her hip, and her raised knee straightened underneath her. Just as the line resumed its movement, spurring her and Eight to continue walking forward with it, she had returned to her original, uncomfortable position. Midas and his friends still needed a moment to catch up behind them, thanks to their large weapons stunting their mobility. Aurora's first attempt at flirting, if she could even _call_ it an attempt, had been met with rejection. She let out a debilitated sigh, which Eight did not fail to notice.

Eight looked over at her again the moment they stopped moving, though she didn't seem to pick up on it until she addressed her another time. When she decided to do so, she had no trouble being blunt about the thing she had just witnessed.

"…Aurora?"

Aurora planted a hand on her forehead. "What?"

"…Is that inkling…your crush?"

The question hung in the air for a while. A simple yes-or-no question, it was, and yet…it seemed to completely corner her. The hand that was on her forehead slid aside to her cheek as she stood in utter, discomfited silence, her gaze remaining locked on the ground in front of her. Eight kept her eyes on her friend, as she always did when she was awaiting an answer, though her expression did not intensify. Even in a moment like this, it was _still_ impossible to tell just how Eight was feeling about everything, and whether she approved or condemned Aurora's emotions. The matter was…the longer Aurora kept silent, the more she felt like she was implicitly answering Eight's question.

With a slow, defeated breath, she finally sated Eight's anticipation. "…I suppose you see now…why I choked at the end of the battle earlier?"

She assumed that Eight recognized Midas as the one that had shot her with the Squiffer earlier that day, and that he had been the reason for her little slip-up thereafter. It certainly must've answered many more of her questions, she figured. Then, when she saw Eight nod her head, she knew it to be the case. Eight was an intuitive octo, after all.

More silence sat over the duo for a few moments while Aurora allowed Eight to stomach the information. Knowing her friend, Aurora knew her secret wouldn't be spilled to her friends unless some outside force decreed it. Still…she hoped she could confide in her friend on the matter.

"I think that's…kind of cute, Aurora." Eight uttered plainly. Still no smile…still no gesture…still no discernible reaction of any kind. She could've been talking with dense sarcasm right then, but Aurora had no way of knowing it for sure.

"Please don't try to be nice, Eight." She emitted another sigh. "It's really embarrassing. I've…never felt this way before."

"Oh…sorry." She stood still for a moment and introduced another moment of silence before continuing. "But…Aurora…?"

Aurora was already listening, so her friend's constant need to reestablish her attention was getting kind of annoying. "What is it?"

"…Octolings aren't supposed to date inklings."

There it was. That damn line again. Aurora was absolutely _sick_ of hearing such a phrase at this point, several months after moving to the big city. She couldn't exactly say that she had _expected_ Eight to drop it on her like that, especially when seeing her in such an insecure state, but…she could see why it had to be said. Everything in Inkopolis seemed to come down to her species, unfortunately. As a species rooted in opposition to the inklings throughout history, particularly in the Great Turf War, octolings were held in rather low standing within the city's borders. Shortly after their exodus from Octo Valley, octolings were usually seen walking around the city streets in groups, since it was often difficult for them to find places in inkling cliques. Some shop owners have even been known to arbitrarily raise prices against octoling customers, while others have opted to refuse their business entirely. In such an unforgiving social climate, interspecies couples were among the rarest things one could find when exploring the city. In a trend that had not yet died with the times, octolings were expected to mingle and mate amongst their own ranks, unless an inkling _specifically_ took a liking to them. Any attempts to sneak themselves into inkling culture _that intimately_ were usually met with scorn.

Things had certainly improved since the days the exodus was going on, however, but nothing was perfect just yet. Many inklings began to see that their newfound octoling neighbors were rather friendly, with only the best and kindest intentions. Most of them were simply moving to Inkopolis in search of a purpose for themselves, particularly after DJ Octavio's capture left them without an identity. Inklings and octolings now lived in harmony for the most part, but the ones who were unable to overcome their prejudices still shared the same city streets, owned the same shops, and participated in the same turf wars. It was that fact, coupled with the lack of time they've had to adjust to the city, that was responsible for the slummy conditions in which most octoling immigrants lived. Aurora and her friends were just one example of that effect, and it sometimes frustrated her a bit.

"I know, I _knoooow_." She lamented. She took a few heavy steps forward with her friend as the line continued to shrink. "But…do you think there's still a chance?"

Eight said absolutely nothing. Aurora, having laid all her cards on the table with her, stared at her desperately. Coming clean to Eight about her crush being an inkling had not been on her itinerary for a while, and the horridly inconvenient circumstances in which it had happened made the whole thing even less pleasant for her. At this point, she was standing beside her friend in a truly humbled position, having fallen so far as to plead to her for reassurance.

"…I do not know." Eight finally stated.

Aurora was becoming unsatisfied with the vagueness of Eight's answers. She craved closure, even for the expense of diving a little deep. "I'm asking you, Eight…as a close friend. Don't you believe in pursuing a true love interest? Even if…maybe…it involves breaking the rules a little bit?"

It was a query of dynamite proportions. Aurora could kind of see it in Eight's expression, which changed ever so slightly at the end of it. A quick tinge of regret welled up within her as she realized she may have just asked a bit too much of her friend. She seemed to give the poor, quiet octo a little too much to think about…and a little too soon, at that.

"That's…a big question, Aurora."

"Yeah…maybe you're right." Aurora felt like she could use a drink. Or maybe two. "…I'm sorry."

The two of them fell into more prolonged silence. They walked together with the line as it shrunk some more, bringing them within a few more minutes of their turn at the kiosk. Midas's friend group dragged rather far behind them, since the Splatling and the Dynamo Roller kept having to hoist their weapons everywhere they went. During that time, with their lack of interaction lasting longer than it should've, Aurora got the feeling that her conversation with Eight was pretty much over. It was definitely nice of Eight to try breaking out of her shell in order to talk to her, but…it seemed she may have taken advantage of her friend's selflessness. Eight was a very reserved individual, and Aurora had to respect that.

Then, to her surprise, Eight actually answered her.

"I believe you would be very courageous to give it a try."

Aurora grinned, delighted with the unexpected, belated reply. "Thanks, Eight."

"Just…be careful."

* * *

Around the same time Midas's group caught up behind the pair in the line, Aurora and Eight heard a familiar voice calling for them from the direction of the food truck. They promptly turned to the sound of the call, and sure enough, they found Ophelia and the others swiftly approaching them through the crowd. They each carried armfuls of food with them, with Bella cradling both Aurora's and Eight's orders against her hips. Ula's hands looked the fullest by a considerable margin, though all the food she was carrying was her own. It looked like Bella and Ula had stopped bickering, thankfully.

"Glad we found you guys so close to the front of the line!" Ophelia beamed. "Looks like Eight's plan worked wonders!"

"Sucks we won't be finding a place to sit and eat this stuff, though." Bella added with a shrug. She glanced over at Ula, who was already sloppily chowing down on one of her Seanwiches without a free hand. "Or…perhaps that's not going to be a problem."

Aurora held up her hand again and waved at her friends, immediately remembering how she had done so for Midas not long prior. She buried the idle thought. "Oh, hey, girls. How'd you get through the food line so quickly?"

Bella stepped around Ophelia and handed Aurora her Schwaffle and her shake as soon as she and the others joined the line. She also handed Eight her Main-Up Guava with a smile, thinking nothing of Eight's typical failure to return the expression. Her friends usually just assumed that she didn't know _how_ to smile.

"Well, we kind of got lucky on that front." Ophelia explained. "Many of the folks in our line got sick of waiting and left to go to your line before reaching the truck. We moved up kind of quickly, which was nice."

Aurora nodded in understanding. Then, Ophelia was cut off enthusiastically by Bella, startling her just slightly. "Oh, oh, also! You're gonna love this. A dude actually _hit on me_ while we were almost at the front of the line!"

This elicited a sizable gasp from Aurora, at roughly the same time she saw Ula silently roll her eyes. "Really? No joke?"

Bella wore a massive grin on her face as she shook her head. "I wouldn't make this shit up!"

"…Was it an octo dude?" Aurora blurted.

"Duh, of course it was." She answered with a playful scoff. Aurora quickly realized how stupid the question was on her part. "You think I have what it takes to make an _inkling_ like me? Don't flatter me!"

"Will he be taking you to the Splatfest?" Eight asked upon taking the first sip of her guava drink. Aurora seconded her question.

Bella's energy remained at peak amplitude while she spoke. "Pfft, nah, I totally rejected him. He was, like…a six-out-of-ten at best, and he was planning to join Team Personality. I still got a few days to find myself a real _playboy!_"

Aurora found herself empathizing with that octo's pain. While Midas hadn't outright _rejected_ her in the line earlier, necessarily, she still got the message that he wasn't really interested in her. At least…yet, if she had something to say about it. Imagining what he must've felt…swallowing whatever nerves he must've had to ask out a date and get _turned down_, right in front of the date's friends…well, it wasn't a very enjoyable thought. She feared, rather deeply, in fact, the possibility of having the same outcome if she were to try asking out Midas directly. She would have to bide her time on that.

"I guess you gotta respect his courage, though!" Aurora squeaked, hoping it would help Bella see things from her admirer's perspective.

Bella thought on it for a moment before nonchalantly shrugging her shoulders. "Meh, I suppose."

Suddenly, not long after they squeezed into the line, Aurora's friends got called out. Their conversation was abruptly interrupted as the Splatling guy behind them took notice of their presence.

"Hey! What the hell do you all think you're doing?"

All five of the girls turned around at the barking sound of his voice, alerted by the furious tone it conveyed. It took Aurora's friends almost no time to recognize him and the others, considering the staunch rivalry they had shared just earlier that day.

"Oh, shit, it's you guys!" Bella taunted. "I take it your fragile egos couldn't handle an evening in the square without your weapons here to support them?"

"Cut the shit, octo. This ain't post-battle banter anymore." The Splatling hissed with a dismissive hand-flap. He didn't break eye contact, and neither did Bella.

"What the fuck are you gals cutting the line for?!" The Dynamo Roller piped up, adding to his friend's aggressive quips.

Aurora started getting disturbed by the prevalence of swearing that was accumulating in the situation. Bella's exchange with the inkling boys after the battle earlier had been rather irksome, sure, but it certainly had not been _hostile_ like this one was becoming. The speed at which the tensions seemed to be rising this time, especially between Bella and the Splatling guy, caused Aurora's comfort to rapidly deteriorate.

"What does it look like? We're standing here with our _friends_, just like you ladies are. And, unlike you, we actually brought _food_ for them." Bella retorted.

The Splatling guy stopped leaning against his weapon. His arms crossed in front of him as he assumed an upright stance, trying, with varying degrees of success, to intimidate Aurora and her friends. "You've got a lot of nerve talking to me like that, for a _pit-dweller_. You'd better watch yourself."

Aurora and Eight turned away shamefully the moment they heard the incredibly offensive slur roll off the guy's tongue. Ula, on the other hand, seemed to receive the insult with a whole new level of irritation. She set her food and drink on the ground next to her and immediately got engaged in the quarrel. "_Pit-dweller?_ Are you fucking kidding me?"

Bella made her best attempt to ignore the remark, despite holding the belief that _no octoling_ deserved to be called a pit-dweller. Her expression faltered slightly, but she managed to keep up the pressure. "What are you going to do? There are five of us…and four of you."

"Why don't you keep fucking _testing me_, and maybe you'll find out?" He threatened coldly. He took several muscly steps in Bella's direction as he said this, expecting her to retreat under his immensely unfriendly glare. The stunt worked well on Aurora, Eight, and Ophelia, but not on Bella nor Ula. When the Dynamo Roller saw this, he also stood up and prepared to support his friend.

Bella merely smirked in the face of her foe, an action which caused Aurora to flinch internally. Her friend's overbearing confidence, while on the verge of being beaten up, was too much for her to handle. "You'd really hit a girl? And a _pit-dweller_, no less? Your mom should've raised you better than that."

Finally, as the Splatling guy appeared to be rolling up his sleeves, Ophelia stepped forward and rested her hands on Bella's and Ula's shoulders, ushering them away from the agitated group of boys. Midas hadn't been paying attention to any of it, of course, but no one was looking to piss off more inklings than they already had. The two defenders resisted Ophelia's pull, but the gesture itself was enough to communicate the point to the Splatling guy and his cohorts.

"Alright guys, enough of this. We're going to the back of the line now." She declared.

"No fucking _way_, 'Lia. I'd like to punch this moron's lights out for thinking he can diss us like this." Ula rasped in reply.

To her shock, though, Ophelia stood her ground. "Girls, I said we're _leaving_. We're already starting to attract a lot of attention." She gave the girls' shoulders a good yank, making them stumble backwards a couple steps. Ula almost knocked over her mocha, which was sitting close to her heel on the ground. Ophelia then turned her gaze to the Splatling guy. "Look…we're sorry for getting in your way."

The Splatling's stance seemed to become more relaxed at the sound of that. He could tell that Ophelia was going to keep her friends under control. "That's the shit I like to hear. Make it fast, so we won't have to look at you anymore."

Ula leaned down and scooped her meal back up, snarling furiously at the inklings standing over her. "Piece of shit…"

Aurora glanced over at her friends sadly. She felt horrible for being unable to stand up for them when things started escalating. "…I guess we'll meet you guys back there after placing our votes."

Ophelia simply nodded her head in reply. Aurora and Eight then watched her lead the others toward the back of the line, which was now much farther away than it had been when Midas's friends first joined it. The entire time, she could see Bella's glare remain fixated on the Splatling guy, a clear indication that she still wasn't willing to back down. Aurora really worried for her friends sometimes, and…at the same time…she didn't know what she'd do without them.

To her utter dismay, however, the Splatling guy didn't seem to be done yet. As soon as the others were out of the way, he spoke up again with the same irritable tone that had caused her to fold from the sidelines just moments ago.

"By the way, I saw the way you were eyeballing Midas earlier. Don't think I didn't catch that cringy little mating dance you did while he was looking at you."

Aurora's hearts were practically beating out of her chest. "A…All…All I did was wave at him…"

"Makes no difference. You're even stupider than I thought if you think you have a chance with _any_ inkling, let alone Midas. Learn your place, octoling." He spat. Aurora was at least glad he had enough decency to avoid calling her a pit-dweller again.

The Splating guy seemed _deeply_ adamant about keeping octolings under his inky boot, Aurora thought. Not even the .96 Gal nor the Dynamo Roller seemed to share the level of racism that he had, though their obvious insensitivity resulted in similar behavior anyway. The only one that appeared to be indifferent about the whole deal with Aurora and Eight…was Midas. To her, that fact was already a _huge_ bout of luck. She figured there was no way he could've stood in the middle of that fight earlier…with several of his friends fixing to send Bella and Ula to their early graves…and _not_ noticed it happening. Clearly, he must've been taking a backseat on purpose. If that meant he at least kept an open mind about octolings, Aurora saw it as a golden opportunity to make him hers, in reckless spite of his friends' opposition. The hard part was figuring out a safe and _appropriate_ way of asking him out, as the mere act itself was already a blatant taboo.

She knew that, if she could get his friends' blessing, asking Midas out would be easy. He would probably feel a lot more comfortable reciprocating her overtures if his friends were onboard with the pesky fact that she was an octoling. And even then, that was assuming he'd actually find her attractive enough to give her a shot. It all seemed hopelessly farfetched. Earning the blessing of a group of inklings that had just called her and her friends pit-dwellers…well, it sounded quite ludicrous.

But…then again…Aurora was never much of a realist. Aurora was a _dreamer_. Midas was practically an _obsession_ she had developed in her mind since the battle earlier, and whenever Aurora got consumed by an obsession…she was known to drive herself into the ground trying to attain it. If she couldn't feasibly _earn_ the blessing of Midas's friends, then, she thought…

…What if she could _force them_ to give it to her?

"…Could I suggest something, maybe?" She babbled hastily. No going back now, she figured.

The Splatling guy didn't seem likely to entertain any input from her, but to her surprise, he yielded. "What?"

"M…My friends are probably going to be upset about all of this for a while." She began, swallowing a big lump in her throat. "What would you say to a rematch battle? Sometime tomorrow, maybe? You know…to settle things?"

The .96 Gal and the Dynamo Roller shot her their attention the second they heard her proposal. The Splatling guy, whose contemptuous gaze was already on her, didn't give an immediate reaction. Eight raised a brow from the sidelines, confused by her friend's sudden, bold intentions. She didn't expect such a heedless suggestion to come from her at such a time, freshly after their friends had gotten snuffed out of the line by the inklings in question.

Eventually, a grin appeared on the Splatling's face, and he began to chuckle. "A rematch? Are you serious?"

Aurora nodded her head, determined to carry through her plan with confidence. "Sure, why not? Same time as today's battle, whatever mode and venue happens to be in rotation. If you win, we'll never show our faces around you again."

The Splatling guy looked around at his friends with growing amusement, touching base with both the .96 Gal and the Dynamo Roller with nothing more than a brief, shared glance. Midas, on the other hand, still wasn't paying any attention to the exchange going on.

"And what do you expect us to do if _you_ win?" He rebutted.

Aurora crossed her arms in front of her and raised her knee again, reviving her flirty pose without having to think about it. She mustered up a cocky smirk. "If _we_ win…you have to set me up on a date with Midas. You'll let us hang out together for a day before the Splatfest, and then you'll let him decide if he wants to take me to the big night."

The Splatling guy nearly cut her off with a rapturous burst of laughter. The .96 Gal and the Dynamo Roller promptly followed suit, shrouding Aurora and Eight in an overbearing display of doubtful arrogance. Eight shot daggers at her friend when the terms passed her lips, though her wide eyes and woefully uncomfortable frown went completely unnoticed.

"Wow, that is _adorable!_" The Splatling guy guffawed. "You're really something else, octo. I'll give you that."

Aurora did not give an inch. "So, do we have a deal?"

"Sure, loser. Seems like you've been learning a thing or two from that bitch friend of yours. The one with the ponytail." He punctuated his agreement, as well as his backhanded jab at Bella, by holding out his hand for a shake, which Aurora took dutifully.

His grip was as firm as steel. Aurora, in her effort to maintain her dominance in the situation, fought against the urge to wince at the strength against her palm. Before letting go, she broke eye contact to glance over at Midas, who still appeared to be scrolling mindlessly through his phone like nothing was going on around him. Hot _damn_, he was cute. She wished she'd get to see his face when his friends broke the news to him, probably later that day. If he wasn't into her _now_…he was going to be.

Not long after the end of their exchange, the last of the inklings waiting in line ahead of them finished their turns at the kiosk. Aurora was distracted a bit initially, thanks to the uncontainable blizzard of thoughts that were rushing through her mind, but eventually, a gesture from Eight snapped her attention back forward. After an eventful wait in the line, Midas and his friends didn't seem too bothered by her slowness. After all, they now had battle strategy on their minds.

A small, googly-eyed jellyfish was stationed next to the kiosk when Aurora and Eight made their approach. He held a large, bulky-looking clipboard in one of his outstretched appendages, and in the other, a ballpoint pen. Behind him sat two sizable piles of t-shirts, one for each team in the Splatfest. The shirts in the stack for Team Looks were a fiery shade of orangish-red, while the Team Personality shirts were some derivative of beachy cyan. They were both beautiful colors in Aurora's opinion, but she knew which color would be belonging to her.

They each gave their name to the jellyfish, along with their team declaration. The jellyfish took a few seconds to write their names down on his clipboard, during which Aurora found herself noticing the small sticker that was pasted on the front-facing side of the kiosk. It read, "REMEMBER: All Splatfest votes are final!" She didn't think it to be a necessary reminder, but…the nature of the statement still left her with a slightly strange feeling. It totally wasn't regret, though.

After he was finished, he shimmied to the side and allowed Aurora and Eight to grab their own t-shirts from the Personality stack. Aurora reached forward and grabbed two of them, handing one of them to Eight immediately thereafter. As she stared down at the symbolic piece of clothing, her entry into her first ever Splatfest, a feeling of wonder welled up inside of her. That Team Personality insignia was the thing she would be standing by, donning as her banner in the heat of battle on Splatfest night, for the glory of proving that personalities were _indisputably_ hotter than looks!

…Weren't they?

* * *

As the two of them turned away from the kiosk and began to depart for the back of the line to join up with their friends, the Splatling guy stopped them again. Aurora sighed internally, feeling burned out from the events of the evening and wishing they would just leave her and Eight alone, in peace, until the time came for their rematch. Reluctantly, they both turned their heads to see what the guys wanted.

"Just thought we'd give you girls a parting gift." The Splatling guy said with a cheeky grin. As he was saying it, the .96 Gal ran up to Eight without warning, swiped her Guava drink right out of her hand, and splashed it all over her. Aurora gave a sharp gasp and put a hand up to her mouth, appalled by the unexpected attack.

Despite not having the reflexes to dodge the spiteful inkling's cheap trick, Eight was able to clamp her eyes shut and swing her Splatfest t-shirt out of the way before getting drenched, preventing it from getting any stains. When the deed was finished, and the .96 Gal threw Eight's now-empty drink cup at her feet, she did not react. Even as the group of boys, minus Midas, of course, proceeded to laugh at what they had done, her expression did not change at all. Aurora, on the other hand, was left staring in dumbfounded shock at the spectacle.

"While you're back there, tell your hotheaded friends that that one's on them!" The Splatling guy sneered. More laughter spilled from the group with the closing remark.

Aurora looked over at Eight with pure misery in her eyes. "Oh my cod, Eight…are you okay? I…I'm so sorry they did that to you…"

Eight shook her head wildly for a moment to force some of the fruity liquid out of her hair. Without saying a word, she set out for the back of the line, her expression remaining…as always…perfectly neutral. Aurora followed closely behind her.

"I am fine." She insisted calmly. "Just…please be careful, Aurora."


	3. Chapter 3: The Proposal

After such a tense confrontation with the inkling boys, the momentum of the evening was pretty much ruined for Aurora and her friends. The frolicking spirits they had shared upon first entering the square were quite diminished by the time they had dragged themselves to the back of the line, and when Aurora and Eight joined them, their feeling was mutual. It also didn't take them long to notice Eight's condition once she entered their sight. The way in which their friend's guava drink, the only thing she had gotten from Crusty Sean's, had ended up out of her cup and all over her entire body was certainly no mystery to them. Ula was filled to the brim with anger by the boys' cowardly act, and Bella found it to be no treat either, but Ophelia kept insisting that the girls contain their emotions and avoid doing something that was going to get them deported. Eight seemed to be in agreement on that decree, despite having been the victim of their attack to begin with.

As the sun continued to fall closer to the horizon, and the crowds scattered amongst the square transitioned to those looking to get their evening battles in, Aurora and her friends waited out their second trial of patience in line by eating their food silently. Ophelia offered to return to Crusty Sean's to get Eight a replacement drink after seeing the dreadful state she was in, but she politely refused with a shake of her head. Her incredible passiveness boggled her friends' minds a lot of the time, especially when such an attack against Bella or Ula would've resulted in nothing short of fresh inkling calamari. Aurora worried about what her friend's opaqueness could've been hiding, or…if there even _was_ anything to hide.

The only time their gloominess seemed to subside, if for just a moment, was back up at the Splatfest kiosk. It didn't take them quite as long to reach it the second time, as there were fewer large groups after dinnertime. Aurora also noticed during their wait that there were more octolings in line than there were at the start of the evening, a likely result of the inklings finishing their errands and dispersing from the square. The change made the atmosphere around them more tranquil, allowing them a chance to indulge in their new Splatfest tees without having drinks splashed in their faces. Bella, Ula, and Ophelia each received their shirts with pride, gawking feverishly at their red-orange hues and flashy, Team Looks insignias. While they knew their shirts were going to be brandished _against_ Aurora and Eight in the Splatfest, their excitement for the battles was still just as unparalleled as it was for the rest of the festivities. Maybe even more so.

To Aurora's and everyone's surprise, as they were all stepping away from the kiosk with their three new t-shirts, another octoling boy approached their group and attempted to ask Bella out to the Splatfest. He explained that he had seen her standing up to the inkling boys earlier, describing her bravery in the ordeal as "inspiring" and "extremely sexy." Bella's response, amidst a maelstrom of flattered giggling and effusive 'veemos' from Aurora and Ophelia, was a fake smile and a stern "nah, I'm good." Ula seemed particularly aggravated by the whole thing, like she had been with the first guy, especially with her friend's reasoning for rejecting her _second_ admirer of the evening. According to Bella, his taste of clothing wasn't fresh enough, and he looked too much like a Clash-Blaster-user. As if _that_ really mattered.

* * *

By the time the girls had wrapped up their activities, the streetlights around the square were just beginning to turn on. The square itself was still somewhat lively with squids and octos, however, though Aurora and the others knew that that would change within an hour or so. Once Inkopolis Square went quiet, everyone knew to start heading back to their homes. Aurora and her friends, at least, preferred to do so sooner rather than later. Even Ophelia, who was never reluctant to visit shady areas of the city and deal with shady individuals, knew she had no business wandering the sprawling streets of Inkopolis after dark.

Luckily, the girls were not homeless. There were indeed a few octolings in the city, and even a few inklings, in fact, who lived that way, but Aurora and her friends knew how to make ends meet. From the very moment they first stepped their wandering tentacles in Inkopolis, they always stuck to each other like glue. Currently, they all shared a single apartment on the lower-end side of town, with the exception of Eight, who owned her own place a few blocks over by the Deepsea Metro station. Eight's place was supposedly a bit less modest than her friends', but…since none of them usually opted to intrude on her space and stay there for a night, no one knew much about how she lived by herself. They also wondered how the hell she managed to afford a better place without roommates, for that matter.

The girls' apartment was mostly funded by Ophelia's income with the Grizz, so she was the one who owned the contract. Still, Aurora, Bella, and Ula contributed whenever and however they could. If someone, frequently Ula, couldn't put forth a sufficient slice of the rent for the month, they usually made up for it by doing the laundry or cleaning their single bathroom. The living space was certainly cramped for four octos, sure, but it was comfortable to them. They were comfortable with each other, after all.

After departing from the square with their Splatfest tees and their full stomachs, the group recovered their weapons from their storage and took the metro on their way back to the apartment complex. Major parts of the city, like the square, of course, had jump pads to which squids and octos could super-jump, making travel to such places in the morning quick and easy. However, only the nicer districts had those same amenities, like the blocks of luxury high-rises populated by celebrities, business squids, and certified X-rankers. For modest octolings living basic lives…like Aurora and her friends…there was the Deepsea Metro. No jump pads existed within a ten-to-twelve-block radius of the girls' apartments.

The ride itself was rather uneventful. Aurora and her friends spoke idly amongst themselves while in the subway car, ignoring the ambient chatter of other octos around them doing the same. Aurora noticed a couple things during the ride, the main thing being the prevalence of glances she and her friends seemed to be getting. Octolings of all varieties dotted the subway car with them, and she noticed that the wandering eyes seemed to be coming from the males, primarily. She wasn't sure if, perhaps, they had noticed her friends' little skirmish with the inkling boys earlier that evening, or if they were just checking her and her friends out a bit before the Splatfest. Though she had her hearts set adamantly on winning over Midas, she decided that she definitely wouldn't mind getting shown a little love from an octo boy or two. Bella was pretty lucky in that regard, she felt.

When the car stopped at their station, the girls strolled through the tunnels, up the stairs, and out into the familiar sights of their district. It looked like an entirely different city than the one surrounding the square. Fewer streetlights seemed to work properly. There was more trash peppering the sidewalks. Shops had less flashy signs out front. Political statements were graffitied on the walls of alleyways in multicolored ink. To Aurora and the others, though…it felt just like home. Inkopolis Square was certainly a testament to the city's status as a modern utopia, but it was the rundown districts bordering the slums that accepted Aurora and her friends for who they were. For that, they never grew tired of the sight.

Aurora, Bella, Ophelia, and Ula still had a few blocks to cover upon emerging from the metro station. The buildings around the station itself were not quite as dilapidated as the ones that housed Aurora and the others, those being a little closer to the actual slums. It was here, though, across the street from the station, that Eight's apartment was located. Therefore, when the group stepped out onto the sidewalk amongst a few other octolings, the girls had to part ways with their quiet, fruity-smelling friend for the night. Their goodbyes were never too involved. Eight simply slung her E-Liter around her back and turned to give her friends a kind wave before preparing to cross at the crosswalk. Aurora joined the others in waving back to her, and as she did, she saw Eight's gaze fall directly onto her, where it stayed for a pensive couple of seconds. She wondered what could've been implied in that gaze. The one thing she _did_ know about it, though…was that it made her feel bad for leaving her alone again.

* * *

Following a fifteen-minute walk or so, the girls arrived at their apartment complex and scaled the wall of the stairwell using ink from their weapons. It was technically against the landlord's policy for tenants to ink the building in any way, but nobody living there really cared much, and neither did the landlord. The way the girls figured, if someone had a problem with them splattering the walls and slithering up them in their octo form, they would've heard a complaint about it at some point. Such were the benefits of living in the hovels.

Ophelia had her apartment key handy when the group approached the front door. She tried the lock a few times, succeeding only after three or four tries, as usual. They were all familiar enough with their living conditions to know that the finnicky lock was never going to get fixed, so none of them bothered to bring it up to the landlord. They certainly weren't paying for such a luxury, and neither was he.

The living room of the girls' home in the city lay just beyond the door, with an old, box TV sitting on a stand to the right, and a rugged, scratchy couch just a few feet in front of it. A loveseat of similar quality sat next to the couch at a slight angle, with various-colored stains dotting its cushions and armrests. Posters were strewn across the walls by the TV, sporting logos and group pictures of the girls' favorite octoling music groups. The doorway to their only bedroom was on the left wall behind the couch, containing both a twin-sized bed and the bathroom. Through the doorway in the back of the living room was the kitchen, which was never stocked with anything more than cereal and a few assortments of munchies. Lastly, the centerpiece of the living room was the rectangular coffee table between the couch and the TV, where Ophelia usually kept her bong. In fact, the first thing she did after stepping inside and removing her shoes was walk up to the couch, remove her bong from within her jacket, and set it gently on that table.

Bella, on the other hand, had a much different idea upon entering the apartment and removing her boots. As soon as she felt the liberating touch of their unvacuumed carpet against her socks, she tossed her dualies and her t-shirt to the side, sprinted around Ophelia and the coffee table, morphed into her octo form, and threw herself against the loveseat with full momentum, nearly knocking the furniture over with her unrestrained weight. She let her tentacles fall over the armrest as she sunk into the cushion with a satisfied, bubbly-sounding sigh. Aurora liked watching her do that, though she never had the courage to try it herself.

"Long day, I see." Ophelia mused aloud with a slight chuckle. Now that she was free of her shoes and the seaweed paraphernalia in her jacket, she took off her cap and her shades, shook her head to let her inky hair flow freely, and kicked back onto the couch. "_Nothing_ beats the feeling of letting the day's tensions whisk away."

"I'll say." Ula grumbled, exhaling profusely. "I think I need to take a shower. Hopefully it'll help me forget about those faggot inklings from earlier."

Bella quickly morphed back into her kid form to shoot a response. "Try running a lighter shade of ink this time. It can help lift your spirits."

"Nah, because then the sun will reflect off my hair in the morning and wake me up at the ass-crack of dawn." Ula quipped while slumping off toward the bathroom. "I'll take it dark, thank you very much."

Ophelia raised a finger to get her attention. "Just don't run it for too long, because I was probably going to…" She stopped short, mid-sentence, as she heard the bathroom door close in the other room, signaling that Ula had ignored her. She lowered her finger and shrugged. "…or…never mind."

Unlike her friends, who appeared to settle right in as soon as they stepped through the door, Aurora still hadn't brought herself to sit down anywhere yet. It had been a truly eventful day for her, and she couldn't seem to get her mind to quiet down. There was the Splatfest announcement, her first gaze into Midas's addicting eyes, the unfortunate confrontation with his friends, and…the rematch agreement thereafter. She felt like there was a certain…bittersweet quality to the whole thing. She may have felt less content now than when she had woken up that morning, but she also had something to shoot for as well. Her hopes of finding a boyfriend were always ever strong since moving to Inkopolis, and now…_now_ she had her target. She just never expected him to be an inkling.

However, in opening this opportunity for herself, Aurora also created some additional obstacles. For one thing, she had to get her friends onboard with the rematch, and they weren't even yet _aware_ that it had been set up. She now had until the end of the night to inform them of the agreement…and earn their willingness to take up arms against the inkling boys a second time. After all, without a team, there wouldn't be a rematch. Considering Ula's desire to "punch their lights out," among other things, well…she dearly hoped they'd be capable of settling the differences honorably…for her sake, if no one else's.

Also…they actually had to _win_ the rematch, which…was not something she could plan for.

By reading their body language, Aurora could tell that Bella and Ophelia were not planning to get up from their positions anytime soon. Due to the limited number of comfortable sleeping places available in their apartment, the girls shared a pact to sleep in different areas of the living space on different nights. Someone would sleep on the couch, someone would sleep on the loveseat, someone would be fortunate enough to sleep on the small bed in the bedroom, and the last one would _try_ to sleep in the sleeping bag that was at the foot of the bed. Usually, the only fights that ever occurred between them were over who would have to be stuck with the sleeping bag. Tonight, since Ophelia and Bella seemed to have claimed their territory already, Aurora assumed that she would be contending with Ula over ownership of the bed. Maybe Ula would have the kindness of hearts to let her dear friend lay her weary body on the bed for the night, she thought to herself hopefully.

Bedtime was still a ways out, though. After coming home from a long day on the town, Bella and Ophelia usually liked to flip on the TV and chat for a while. Aurora, of course, wanted to join them, hoping that the mindless activity would straighten out her thoughts…as if _everything else_ that day hadn't already failed to do so. Before she could sit back and truly relax, however, she required something important from the bedroom. The first thing she did after finally removing her shoes and setting her stuff aside, then, was wander over to the bedroom to get it. Shortly after she began moving, she glanced over in time to see Ophelia reach for the remote and turn on the TV, which confirmed her assumption from earlier.

As Aurora stepped around the back of the couch and through the doorway to the bedroom, she surveyed the bed and the sleeping bag in the back-left corner of the space. The thing she was particularly quick to notice was Ula's clothes, which were strewn across the bed in haphazard fashion. Her jacket, her shades, her leggings, her socks…all of it. Even her underwear was there, sitting on top of the stack like it had been lazily tossed there after everything else. Upon seeing that, Aurora knew that the bed had already been claimed. If Ula was willing to mark her territory on the bed by undressing in the bedroom instead of the safety of the locked bathroom, Aurora figured, then there was no point in trying to dispute her. The sight of her friend's unwashed undergarments on top of the bed sort of turned her away from sleeping on it anyway. If that had been Ula's intention, then…it certainly worked.

With that, she continued with what she had entered the bedroom for in the first place. She was looking for something, though…upon first glance…she couldn't seem to find it. She had slept in the sleeping bag the night before, so she expected to find it there on top of the pillow, but it was not. Curious, she walked farther into the room, toward the sleeping bag and the dresser that sat beside the bed. She checked around the sleeping bag itself, as well as under its zip-up comforter. After that, she shimmied over to the dresser and pulled open all the drawers, sifting through her friends' folded clothes in order to search each one thoroughly. Finally, she lifted up the sheets of the bed, taking care not to touch Ula's discarded clothes, but her item was not there either. She let out a confused huff before turning around and walking back out of the room, ignoring the sound of the showerhead turning on behind the bathroom door.

She stepped up behind the couch and leaned over it to look at Ophelia.

"…'Lia?"

Ophelia turned slightly, keeping her attention on the TV. "Hmm?"

"Do you know where he is? I can't seem to find him." She asked timidly.

"Where who is?"

Aurora tapped her fingers together sheepishly. She was slow to answer her friend. "You know…_him_."

After a short pause, Ophelia turned all the way around and glanced at Aurora. "Who's 'him?' I know a lot of 'hims.'"

At that point, Aurora started to feel like Ophelia was messing with her. She knew that Aurora didn't like saying the name of her special item out loud. She was sensitive about having it around her friends as it was, especially with Bella's tendency to make wisecracks, so not being able to find it already put her in a state of mild discomfort.

She glanced over at Bella, who was still occupying the loveseat in her octo form, to make sure she wasn't paying attention. Then, she leaned further in towards Ophelia's ear and spoke in a hushed whisper. "…Where's Wah-Wah?"

Ophelia failed to stifle a small giggle, which angered Aurora just a bit. Luckily, Bella didn't seem to hear any of it, as her focus was still on the TV. "Don't worry, I knew who you were talking about. You're just cute when you say his name, so I wanted to hear it again."

Aurora sighed in exasperation. "Where did you put him?"

"Hey, hey, relax. He's over on the kitchen counter." Ophelia answered calmly, at the same voice level as her distressed friend. "I washed him a little bit before I left for the square this morning. Thought you'd appreciate it."

"Oh." Aurora babbled as she stood back upright, surprised by the sudden kind nature of the incident. "Well, um…I do. Thank you."

With that, she turned away from the couch and strolled hastily to the kitchen, allowing Ophelia to return her gaze to the TV. On her way, she noticed Bella's big, nosy, octopus eyes following her as she passed by the loveseat. She wasn't sure if Bella knew the thing she was after, and if she did, whether she was planning to poke fun at her again for it. Aurora met her glance with an unreadable expression as she stepped through the doorway to the kitchen.

Once there, the fretful octo flipped on the light and directed her attention straight at the counter by the sink, as Ophelia had described. When her gaze fell upon the item sitting atop its granite surface, a relieved grin appeared on her face. It was a soft, moderately-sized plush doll of a whale, with pliable fins, black button eyes, and a gentle, but enormous, tentacle-stitched smile. Aurora had been in possession of that plush doll since the dawn of her earliest memories in Octo Valley, and…before she met the other girls…he had been her only real friend. He was the only possession she had decided to take with her on her exodus to Inkopolis, amidst the mocking she had often received for having him. She didn't care that she was too old for him. He was her Wah-Wah.

Aurora squeezed the plush tightly against her chest the moment she grabbed it from its spot. He always managed to ease her weary spirit, even after the toughest of days. With him in her grasp, she swung around and pranced out of the kitchen with a rush of renewed confidence. She almost forgot to turn the light back off, even, but she was able to reach her arm out and do so without losing her stride.

Back in the living room, she was surprised to see Bella in her kid form all of a sudden, sporting a new, casual sitting position that left her feeling suspicious. She also noticed that Bella's gaze was on her as she passed by the loveseat again on her way to the couch, which piqued her wariness further. Her witty friend had been waiting all evening for this moment. Aurora could tell.

Just as she reached the empty side of the couch and sat herself down with her childhood companion, it began.

"Aww, is _Wah-Wah_ gonna be joining us for TV tonight?" Bella quipped with a smug grin.

Aurora rolled her eyes. "Not tonight, Bella. Please."

"What do you mean?" She replied defensively. "I don't even get to say hello?" She put a hand on her chest in an "offended" sort of manner.

"No. He doesn't want to talk to you." Aurora fired back.

Bella's grin was already too wide for its own good. "Why wouldn't Wah-Wah want to talk to his big Auntie Bella? Doesn't he love me too?"

"Quit saying his name! It's private!"

"Will he at least give me a hug?" She leaned forward and extended her arms. "Come here, Wah-Wah! I want to play with your little fins!"

Aurora gritted her teeth as her ink ran to her face, filling her cheeks up with the same shade of purple as her hair. "He doesn't love you, Bella! Just stop! There's nothing wrong with having him at my age!"

Bella fell back against the cushion of the loveseat in a playful fit of giggling, the likes of which pissed Aurora off more than she'd like to admit. She challenged her friend's seething glare with a puckish one of her own. "You know I love you, Aurora. Even if your plush doesn't love me. You're just really cute to mess with sometimes."

"You do it _all the time_, though…" Aurora mumbled under her breath. Bella didn't seem to hear her.

* * *

Not long after Aurora got settled in, and Bella finally gave her a break from all the teasing, Off the Hook took over the TV with the late evening news. The girls always loved keeping up with current events in Inkopolis. In doing so, they were ever more engrained in the city's culture, following wholeheartedly in the ups and downs of its citizens. Of course, there was also the fact that they idolized Off the Hook like a flock of young schoolgirls.

"Damn…Marina is a _goddess_." Bella sighed when the pair first appeared on screen. "How are those jade-tipped tentacles _not_ extensions?"

"Wish I could rap like Pearl. I feel like I look the part sometimes, but my lyrics fall flat like a hockey puck." Ophelia chuckled nonchalantly. "She's like a prodigy at her age."

Aurora just smiled softly. "I like their confidence."

"Hey hey _hey_, y'all know what time it is!" Pearl's adolescent voice boomed through the TV's staticky speakers.

"It's Off the Hook, coming at you _live_ from Inkopolis Square!" Marina followed. "Where it looks like, for the first time in a while, we're still not alone during our evening broadcast!"

The girls watched the TV adamantly as Pearl shifted around in her seat and took a quick glance through the glass behind herself, noticing the bundles of inklings that were still wandering around the darkened square. "Wow, you're right…gee, I wonder why!"

"Good question…" Marina let herself trail off, putting a beautifully manicured hand on her cheek. "Could it be that thing that we announced earlier this morning?"

"Riiiiight, that _thing_…" She paused. "…you mean that big _Splatfest_?"

Marina turned to look at the camera. "That's right, Pearl, and for all you busy bees that missed it! The Splatfest gods dropped a real _juicy_ one on us this year!"

"I still think you're selling yourself short by choosing Personality, 'Rina." Pearl jabbed.

"But Pearlie, it's _shallow_ to chase a perfectly good cephalopod for just their looks. We all have feelings…aspirations…"

"Get outta here with that drab, my gal! I got you in my life, and you're, like…the hottest thing to ever swim through ink! I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Aww…Pearl…"

"Plus, when you're gettin' your absolute _guts_ railed outta ya, nine folks outta ten will tell you that they'd prefer a perfect ten at the helm!"

"_PREACH_, girl!" Bella hollered at the TV, causing an occupant of the floor above them to bang something against the ceiling.

Marina stood straight up suddenly, startled by her brash friend's suggestive statement on live TV. She put a hand over her face to conceal her cheeks. "_Ohh_, Pearl, let's…uh…" She glanced at the camera. "…let's watch what we say! I, um…I don't think…the, uh…_producer_ is very happy with us now."

"Bite me." Pearl fired. She locked her eyes directly onto the camera and flexed her eyebrows, sporting a grin that could melt steel. Bella and Ophelia were in absolute hysterics, knowing well the reactions the pop star's antics were probably causing among the city's male viewers.

Marina seemed like she wanted to laugh as well, but she uncomfortably kept her composure. She looked like her producer must've been giving her and Pearl quite the death glare at that moment.

"Well, anyway…we're finding that this year's Splatfest has some of the best voter turnout in the events' history!" She stammered.

"Hell yeah! I think our stats guy said something about there being more voters today than _total participants_ in last year's fest!" Pearl exclaimed. "I don't rock with numbers much, but that sure sounds like a lot to me!"

Marina nodded enthusiastically before looking back at the camera. "And he also said that it wouldn't have been possible without my fresh, fellow octos out there joining in on this year's fun! A big shoutout to all of you!"

Bella made the classic, "stay fresh" hand gesture at the TV in response to her idol's mention. When Aurora and Ophelia saw it, they did it, as well. It felt great to be included in something. In answering to Marina like that, the girls loved to imagine what it would be like to actually meet her, the most famed and beloved octoling in the city, in person. Perhaps they would get the chance one day.

During their gleeful moment, Pearl picked up the baton with the outro to their first segment. "So be sure to jump on out here tomorrow if you haven't already! It isn't too late to vote until we take the stage on Splatfest night!"

"Yep, and don't be afraid to get down-and-_flirty_ when you do!" Marina added. "The hearts are _really_ going to be flying this year."

"Or the clothes, if you're on Team Looks." Pearl mentioned with a wink. "Now then, for those of you looking to get the early-bird special tomorrow, here are tomorrow morning's sunrise venues!"

Marina's advice about the flirty nature of the Splatfest made Aurora think heavily about Midas again. She had been sufficiently distracted by both her friends and the comfort of getting home as soon as they had entered their apartment, but now those mental blockades were once again crumbling. Every desire for a romantic companion that she had built up over the years, every craving for a boyfriend's embrace, every urge to engage in some playful roughhousing, and every private itch that she secretly yearned to have scratched…it had _all_ fallen onto Midas, in just one cursed, cod-damned day. She was going to drive herself _crazy_ over him. As she hugged Wah-Wah heartily against her chest, in fact, she caught herself closing her eyes and fantasizing Midas's face in his place.

Those thoughts also, in turn, reminded her of the crucial matter that she still had yet to discuss with the others. They still weren't aware of the important rematch that was scheduled for them tomorrow. If they lost that rematch, or didn't even make an appearance, for that matter, her chances with Midas would be shot, unless she took even more reckless measures. She knew the critical significance of informing them about the battle, but…she couldn't decide whether she should confess the stakes to them…or keep that part a secret. On one hand, knowing that their friend's future with the new love of her life would be hanging in the balance _could_ encourage the others to give it their all, or…it could cause them to refuse the rematch entirely. Eight had the full story, of course, and Aurora knew that she would fight for her, but she was just one octo out of the four that she needed to convince.

"You know, I have a feeling those inkling pussies in the square earlier were voting for Looks _just_ because they didn't want to join Marina's team." Bella piped up, surprising Aurora with the similar subject change.

"Right…she _is_ an octo, like us, after all." Ophelia replied. "And I think we can all agree that those guys were…um…pretty racist? Even more than usual?"

"Oh, totally. I don't think I've faced such pointless hatred for octolings since our first week in Inkopolis." Bella mentioned.

Aurora had more insight about the boys than her friends did, since she and Eight had been putting up with them for a while before the others had even arrived. Unlike them, she could tell that the real culprit of the fiasco in the square had been the Splatling guy. The .96 Gal and the Dynamo Roller did seem to share in his prejudice, sure, but their rude etiquette seemed to mostly be fueled by his actions. Whatever made that Splatling guy tick…it clearly had something to do with staunch inkling-supremacism. He was driven by his distaste of octolings, his friends were driven by their loyalty to him, and then…there was Midas. What the hell drove Midas?

"Midas isn't racist, though." She blurted, without looking up.

Ophelia and Bella both turned to her. "What did you say? Who isn't racist?"

_Shit_, Aurora thought, she had just said that out loud. She wasn't supposed to do that. "M…Midas. I don't think he's racist."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Who's Midas?"

"…One of the guys. The one with the…Squiffer…" Aurora uttered, trailing off awkwardly. She _really_ shouldn't have used his name like that.

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about." Ophelia put a hand up to her chin. "How do you know his name, though? Do you know him from somewhere?"

She looked up at them. "No…his, uh…friend told us."

That response just seemed to make Ophelia and Bella even more skeptical. They shared a glance with each other before turning back to Aurora at the same time. "Why would they tell you what the Squiffer guy's name was? Weren't they giving you and Eight a hard time?"

"Yeah, and why use his name anyway?" Bella added. "I wouldn't even piss in the ink those bastards swim through. Though, now that I think about it…"

"Just forget about his name!" Aurora shouted suddenly, cutting off her friend. Their expressions changed at her little outburst. "He was on his phone the whole time we were in the line, and even while they were bothering us. I'm just saying…I don't think he hates octolings like his friends do."

"So…you're giving him the benefit of the doubt?" Ophelia questioned. "I mean…it's nice of you to always seek out the good in others, Aurora, but…that Squiffer guy wouldn't be friends with those other inklings if he didn't share their opinions about us to some degree. They're lost causes to us."

Bella kicked back a bit and threw her hands up behind her head. "Exactly. Once a prick, always a prick. Not sure about you, but I think Ula and I can agree that we don't want to deal with those guys ever again. I wouldn't be held responsible for anything that'd happen if we did."

Aurora was saddened by their outlook. Of course, she herself didn't appreciate getting called a pit-dweller by those guys either, so she couldn't necessarily blame them for not wanting to tangle with them ever again. However, she _needed_ her friends to tangle with them again, for without that rematch battle tomorrow, her next wave to Midas would be a wave goodbye. Her friends' intense unhappiness with the boys made her feel kind of selfish for setting up another battle with them without their permission. Eight's wariness towards her proposal, then…started to make a bit of sense. She was totally about to throw her friends into the gauntlet in order to have a _chance_ at Midas's tentacle in the Splatfest. Yikes.

In that case…she figured now was the time to get the hard part out of the way.

Initially, she could only murmur incomprehensibly in response to Bella's statement. Both Bella and Ophelia seemed to notice it, and as such, they gave Aurora their attention. However, Aurora didn't exactly know how to frame the statements the way she wanted. She certainly didn't want her friends getting angry with her, but…with the deed already done, it was potentially too late to avoid that.

"Gonna have to speak up, Aurora." Ophelia said plainly.

Aurora swallowed a massive lump in her throat, just as she had done before giving the proposal to the Splatling guy earlier that evening. Somehow…giving it to her friends seemed to frighten her even more. "Wh…What if we could…maybe…settle it with them on the battlefield? Instead of…you know…beating them all up?"

Bella gave her a deeply skeptical glare. "A rematch battle? With those guys?"

Aurora nodded. "…Sure. We've played against them once already, so…we should know their strategy, right? It would g…give us a chance to redeem ourselves." She stammered. She didn't feel like she was being very convincing.

"Didn't you hear those guys earlier?" Ophelia cut in, sounding slightly bothered. "That guy with the Splatling seems more willing to cut off his own tentacles than yield to a group of octolings. It's a miracle they even played fairly against you guys the first time."

Bella nodded quickly in agreement. "Yeah, and what if we were to win the rematch? Knowing them, I'd worry about them dropping their weapons and trying to club us for showing them up like that. I can take a few hits, but it's not like I'm eager to go finding a fight where there doesn't have to be one."

"Right. Like I said before, those nasty squids are lost causes to us." Ophelia stated. "Even if we wanted to, I don't know how we'd go about contacting them to even _arrange_ a rematch."

_Here it comes_, Aurora thought. She looked between her two friends with diminishing resolve as she listened to their responses, knowing that whatever happened next was going to be at _someone's_ expense. It was stupid of her to act impulsively on this matter the way that she had. Why did she have to be so impulsive about everything?

"A…Actually…" She began nervously. "…here's the thing…"

Bella cocked her head almost immediately upon seeing her friend's uneasiness. "Aurora…what did you do?"

Aurora paused when she got cut off, finding it nearly impossible to resume her previous statement. She started compulsively stroking Wah-Wah's back while she struggled to find a way to regain the situation. With a quick glance upward, she could see both Ophelia and Bella staring her down intently, eyes piercing through her own like charger shots. They _knew_ how reckless she tended to be, and the fact seemed to show with how quickly they seemed to figure her out.

Her gaze fell back downwards. She began stroking a bit faster. "I…I spoke to him after you guys left. We're…supposed to meet them t…tomorrow afternoon. At one of the rotation venues."

Silence fell upon the room for a moment, the only sounds coming from the voices of Off the Hook on the TV. Aurora did not want to look her friends in the eye. The regret she felt was already escalating quickly, and she hadn't even heard their responses yet. Regardless of what they ended up saying, she felt like they were going to hate her for what she did. The only thing she could do…was continue stroking.

Ophelia, after briefly sharing a glance with Bella, slumped against the back of the couch. Her expression reflected the slightest bit of shock, but in reality, she didn't seem that rustled. "Well then…that's a twist."

Bella's face, on the other hand, was a little more animated. "And…what did you do _that_ for, exactly?"

"Pleeeease don't hate me! I don't know why I thought it was a good idea!" Aurora suddenly wailed, pressing her plushie into her abdomen. She didn't cry, though she did feel quite embarrassed. Embarrassment was usually the outcome of her impulsive actions.

"Hey, hey, Aurora?" Ophelia cut in, raising her arm in her upset friend's direction. "What's the magic word?"

Aurora held her breath as she glanced to her side. "Um…relax?"

"That's it. There are still some goodies sitting on the table for you if you want them. All you gotta do is take some and step out front. Don't even need to ask." She explained calmly.

"Y…You girls aren't…mad at me?" Aurora whimpered. She looked at both of them with a guilty, sorrowful weight on her conscience. Though her crime was not really that serious, she had a nagging tendency to inflate the direness of her errors in her own head. If she were to take up Ophelia's offer and step outside with the seaweed, she knew the problem would only become worse.

"Well, you _did_ kind of put us in a tough spot here." Bella answered matter-of-factly. "But…nah, I'm not mad at you. I can see why you did it, and…to be honest…it's really just a bit of an inconvenience. That's all."

"Yeah, just…make sure you ask us before signing us up for any more battles." Ophelia added with a smirk. Aurora smiled weakly back at her.

The thing was, Aurora had _not_, in fact, done what she had done for the reason Bella was thinking. She and Ophelia were assuming that their doubtful and apologetic friend had set up the rematch battle with _them_ in mind, for the sake of taking back the honor that had been stolen from them in the square. That was _probably_ why they were so forgiving of her mistake. She still withheld the guilt of knowing why she had _really_ done it…and whether her friends would forgive her as easily if they knew it as well.

"So…what are we doing, then? Are we gonna fight them?" Bella asked. "Because I think forfeiting would look…_reeeeally_ bad on us."

Ophelia shrugged. "It's not like I'm doing anything tomorrow. I was actually hoping we would hit up the venues again soon, especially with the Splatfest coming up. Been meaning to stretch out and shoot the gunk outta my Hydra for once."

"You'll do it, then? We're gonna battle them?" Aurora asked hopefully. An optimistic glimmer shone in her eyes, striking Ophelia and Bella the way it always did.

"Sure, we can make our comeback that way." Bella replied blithely. "I wasn't about to go looking for revenge myself, but seeing how you've already set it up for us, well…" She looked back at Ophelia, then at Aurora. "…I guess it'd be pretty fresh of us to try. Which, now that I think about it, we need to get Ula's ass out here so we can hear what she thinks of it."

"Yeah, she's been running a lot of ink in there. 'Bout time someone get her before she cleans out my bonus from the Grizz this week!" Ophelia agreed. She made a hand gesture to encourage Bella to go yank their friend out of the shower.

As her friend stood up from the loveseat and power-walked to the bedroom to disturb Ula, Aurora couldn't help but smile. She was excited that her friends…or half of them, at least…were miraculously onboard with her crazy rematch plan. They didn't deserve to be tugged around like that, as pawns in her "ultimate scheme" to get in Midas's shorts. At least…that's what she felt like she was doing, anyway. Regardless, she didn't want to tell them about her crush yet, not because they'd be less willing to battle for her, but because they might scold her for chasing after an inkling. After all, that's what Eight had done back in the square, after Aurora felt like she could confide in her.

"Oh, Aurora, did you tell Eight about the rematch at some point? Because we would probably need to text her and let her know." Ophelia mentioned.

Speak of the devil, Aurora thought as she nodded her head. "Yeah, Eight knows. She was standing next to me when I brought it up to the boys."

"Ohh, _pfft_…duh. Of course." Ophelia scoffed and smacked herself in the forehead. "Well, hopefully she'll be willing to battle with us. Bella and I are down, but…I'm not so sure about Ula."

Just then, the two of them heard the echoing sound of the toilet flushing from through the bedroom doorway, followed closely by a loud, pained scream. The scream punctured through all the thoughts going through Aurora's head at that moment, and it cut her exchange with Ophelia rather short. They both turned around toward the bedroom, where, just a few seconds later, Bella came proudly strolling out. Both pairs of eyes stayed locked on her, in silence, as she walked casually around the couch to the loveseat and plopped back down in it. She looked back at them.

"She'll be out in a minute." The mischievous octo said. She then morphed back into her octo form to wait.

However, it did not even take a minute. Within moments of Bella returning to her seat in front of the TV, Ula came storming out of the bedroom with a towel wrapped hastily around herself. She clearly hadn't had time to get dressed, between barreling out of the bathroom after Bella, throwing on the towel, and appearing before her friends in disheveled condition. Her first order of business was to give Bella the most disapproving glare she could muster. As usual, she did not look pleased.

"What the hell was _that_ for?!" She clamored.

Bella morphed back into her kid form, revealing a typical, shit-eating grin on her face. Her frequent morphing tended to leave ink stains in the loveseat, but no one really found it to be a big deal. "You were taking a while. I just felt like you needed a little nudge."

"Bitch…have you ever tried dipping your _entire body_ into an Explosher vent?" Ula rasped bitterly. "Because _that's_ what that shit felt like just now."

"Well, uh…maybe you should've locked the bathroom door!" Bella retorted with a giggle. "I considered just pulling the shower curtain when I got in there, but I decided that I didn't want to lose my innocence."

"Say you're sorry, then, or I'll drop my towel right here in the living room." Her displeased friend challenged. "Don't think I won't."

"Aww, come on! Don't be a party-pooper!" Bella pleaded.

Ophelia fixed her eyes on the TV and refused to look away for the next few moments. "I'd apologize, Bella. Don't think Ula wouldn't subject all of us to a punishment like that."

She sighed childishly. With pressure from two of her friends, she couldn't argue. "Ugh, fiiiiine. I'm sorry, Ula. Just don't make it so _easy_ for me next time!"

Aurora wouldn't have put such a thing past Ula, either. It wouldn't have been the _craziest_ thing she had done. She herself usually took a backseat during her friends' weird skirmishes, as she had done just earlier that day at the canal. Her only concern was what Ula would think of the rematch news, and beyond that, nothing else mattered.

"So, what am I out here for, anyway? What's so important?" Ula queried impatiently.

"Bills, first of all." Ophelia chimed in. "I know you're weary, girl, but running ink all night ain't cheap. We all gotta chip in on those costs."

"You girls know I don't have any money." Ula grumbled back.

"Exactly, so let's be mindful of how much we use stuff. It's okay that you can't shell in on our bills, but you gotta try being a little more conservative. If money gets tight, you know…I may have to quit spending on seaweed for a little while." Ophelia warned.

Ula groaned loudly and rolled her head back. "_Okaaay_, fine, shorter showers it is, then! Anything else to brighten my evening?"

"Yes, actually." Bella answered. She pointed at Aurora. "Aurora set us up for a rematch battle with those inkling brats tomorrow. Think you'd be up for that?"

Ula followed her friend's finger and settled her gaze on Aurora right as she was giving the announcement. Aurora quickly retreated into herself when she realized she was under Ula's scrutiny, as she knew her dark-haired, dark-souled friend would not tolerate her actions as much as Bella and Ophelia had. She saw Ula's eyes squint at her while Bella was giving the news, making her, once again, rather uncomfortable. Therefore, she held up her arms and shielded her face with Wah-Wah.

Ula continued squinting at her for another moment, then she turned back to the others. She grunted and shook her head.

"Fuck that shit."

"So…you don't want to get a bit of revenge on the battlefield?" Bella asked. "Blast them with Tenta Missiles, maybe?"

Ula shook her head again. "Nope. If you girls care at all to see me _not_ wind up in a snow globe next to DJ Octavio, you'll keep me from ever seeing those turds ever again." She clenched her fist. "Because if I ever do, it won't be _Tenta Missiles_ I'll be blasting them with, that's for sure. Get Eight to do it."

Bella and Ophelia looked awkwardly around the room for a few seconds while Ula's uncompromising reply hung in the air around them. Aurora's face was still buried behind her plushie, despite Ula's attention having fallen elsewhere since her earlier glare. In general, whenever Ula gave ultimatums on such a degree, the overall mood of the room tended to dissolve a little bit. The last time she had actually been _seen_ acting violently towards someone was back in Octo Valley, but it had been enough to establish her disposition as an octo not to be trifled with. Bella's insistence on messing with her so frequently, then, was quite the mystery.

After a bit of time spent standing next to the loveseat in nothing but her towel, Ula looked up at the TV just in time to see Pearl and Marina closing out their evening news segment. They stood in their places and made the "stay fresh" gesture with their hands, accompanying the motion with their classic, "Don't get cooked, stay off the hook!" This time, nobody in the room reciprocated their choreography.

"Damn…so I missed Off the Hook again. Figures." Ula groused.

"Well…you _did_ decide to take a shower." Bella mumbled quietly. "You didn't _have_ to do that right then."

Ula scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Bella, of _course_ I did. I desperately needed cleansing after being insulted by those assholes." She then turned her head to look at Aurora again, intimidating her in the process. "Better get ahold of Eight, because if she won't battle, the deal's off. I'm heading back in there to change into comfy shit, and after I do, I'm going to bed. I've had enough inklings for a _couple_ days."

Ophelia shrugged. "If you say so. Sleep tight."

Bella shrugged as well, adding a friendly wave to the end of the motion. "Dream of sea snails!"

"Doubt I will." Ula muttered. Still holding her towel above her chest, she turned around slowly and sauntered back into the bedroom. Bella watched her lethargic trudge until she disappeared from sight, hearing her disgruntled utterances along the way. "_Pit-dweller_…for fuck's sake…"

When all was said and done, the room fell silent again. Nothing interesting was usually on TV after Off the Hook's evening news session, so Ophelia reached for the remote and turned it off after Ula left. In the absence of the TV's blueish gleam, the dim overhead light cast a mellow glow over the trio as they sat in their spots and savored the lack of noise. It was the quietest atmosphere the girls had been in since they woke up that morning.

"Thinking Ula's got the right idea?" Ophelia queried.

Bella glanced at her. "About what? Those boys being assholes?"

"Well, yes, but…no. I was talking about going to bed."

"Oh." Bella chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose it wouldn't hurt."

"Speaking of which, Aurora?" Ophelia paused for a moment while Aurora turned to her. "Weren't you going to ask Ula for the bed in there? I'm pretty sure you already slept in the sleeping bag last night, and Bella and I were probably going to sleep out here tonight."

Aurora recalled what she had seen in the bedroom while looking for Wah-Wah earlier. She shook her head. "Ula seems…upset. I'm just going to let her have the bed again."

"You don't have to be so timid, you know. Ula may be grumpy, but we're still her friends. I bet, if you were to go in there right now and flop down on the bed before she gets changed, she won't do anything about it." Bella assured. She sounded completely serious, though…it was hard not to interpret it as a joke.

"That's…that's okay. I'm not going to take my chances." Aurora declared in reply.

"Ula raised another good point, though, which I think you should address before you head off to bed, Aurora." Ophelia mentioned, lifting a finger to get her attention. "You should probably contact Eight, just to be sure she's willing to join us for the rematch. Better to do so now than the day of."

Aurora stared at her for a moment, failing to answer her right away. She didn't know why she was hesitant to give a swifter response, but she figured it wouldn't make Ophelia think any differently of her answer. "…Okay."

The truth was, Aurora already knew that Eight was onboard with the plan. Unlike her other friends, she had actually gotten the chance to talk to her back in the square, and from that, she felt like Eight understood her enough to be her aide in the struggle. Eight knew what she was after. Ophelia, Bella, and especially Ula, however…they did not. Aurora knew Eight would give it her best shot. She knew she could safely share her secrets with Eight. She knew she could depend on Eight. However…

…she wasn't sure how Eight _felt_ about everything she was putting her through.

* * *

_Nothing in the world could match the feeling of victory._

_When the timer rang, and everyone in the arena knew that the match was over, Aurora and her friends threw down their weapons and celebrated vehemently, flopping wildly around the puddles of ink in their octo forms. Rounds of cheering emanated from the onlookers that were spectating the battle, adding copiously to the triumphant atmosphere that encompassed the octoling underdogs. Indeed, victory came at the price of incredible trial and effort, but this time, the girls' efforts had certainly paid off for this moment. They had managed to prove themselves against the inkling bullies and reclaim their freshness in the eyes of their peers._

_It didn't take long after the final bell for the Splatling guy and his two lackeys to swim their way to Aurora and the others. When they emerged from the ink near her friends, in the wake of their own defeat, the inklings faced an eruption of laughing and booing from the crowd. They wielded their weapons with shame, but they took the unkind reception without any sort of reaction. They knew they had been inferior in battle, and they accepted their failure dutifully._

_ "__Anything you have to say for yourself?" Bella taunted, a dualie-wielding hand on each hip._

_The Splatling guy looked at the ground. He sighed. "You girls pack a punch. My cowardly tactics and cheap splash walls were no match for your agility and prowess. I guess octolings are fresher than I gave them credit for."_

_ "__Yeah, and we're not fuckin' pit-dwellers, you hear?!" Ula yelled from within the crowd of onlookers. She stepped through the squids and octos around her and flashed her middle fingers at the inklings, who took her gesture willingly. They turned away._

_ "__Yes…you are not pit-dwellers. We can see that now." He uttered._

_ "__And don't you be forgetting it." Ophelia added with an authoritative glare. She hoisted her monstrous Hydra Splatling upright and intimidated them through the glint of her shades._

_Finally, Eight spoke up from her mysterious silence and gave the losers the sendoff they deserved. "Go away, and never bother us again. And make it fast…so we won't have to look at you anymore."_

_A savage move by Eight, but it worked out beautifully. The inklings, knowing that they were inherently under the boots of their octoling victors by virtue of their defeat, obeyed their order. Without another word, they morphed into their squid forms and, upon flopping onto the ground and blending in with their ink, swam off into the distance in a trio of ripples. True to Eight's command, they were never to be seen by Aurora nor her friends ever again._

_That was the case, at least, for the Splatling guy, the .96 Gal, and the Dynamo Roller. However, there was still a face that had yet to make an appearance after everything had wrapped up. It was a face of a particular importance, and luckily, it didn't take long to arrive after the others took off on their exile._

_Shortly following the disappearance of the three inkling boys, another ripple in the ink came rushing forward from around the corner, stopping just short of Aurora and her friends. They all turned to see who it was, and sure enough, when the squid hidden within morphed into his kid form, they found themselves staring down Midas. Midas, while sharing in the defeat of the rest of his team, had not received the same banishment that they had. Therefore, as he stood before the octo girls and settled his sight on Aurora, they all watched him without a word._

_He stepped towards her very deliberately, stowing his Squiffer on his back without breaking eye contact. He stopped when his feet reached the end of his ink color, prompting Aurora to walk forward and close the gap between them. Her friends continued to watch the exchange without saying anything. Aurora couldn't even see them anymore. All she could see was Midas…her prize._

_He surveyed her on her approach, drinking in her form like he was seeing her for the very first time. He didn't smile, but despite that fact, Aurora could see his admiration through his eyes. She was his maiden, having won him in the toils of battle. Though he may have lost with the rest of his team, he felt the effects of her victory all the same, for now he got to be hers…and she got to be his._

_ "__I loved watching you battle." He breathed. "You were like nothing I've ever seen before."_

_ "…__I did it for you, Midas. I had to have you for the Splatfest." She answered passionately. She kept reaching for him, stopping herself hesitantly each time. She wanted desperately to _feel_ him against her body._

_ "__Such valiance…such grace. If you wanted me that badly…all you had to do was ask. I would've swept you up in an instant." He maintained his steady, unyielding expression as he reached through her arms and planted his hands around her waist, eliciting a slight gasp from her. "You are the pinnacle of octoling beauty. You even show it in the way you fight."_

_With his hands now settled on her, inching precariously towards some of her "rounder" features, Aurora found the permission to place her own hands on him. She rested her palms gently against the front of his vest and slid them up towards his shoulders, feeling for herself how poorly the garment fit on him. His chest felt like it could break free of that vest at any moment. She shuddered weakly at the feeling, answering to it by thrusting her own chest against his…so that he may feel for himself the additional curves she had to offer. She hoped…more desirously with each passing second…that he would start getting explorative with those hands of his. Those hands…which were now boldly grasping her ass._

_ "__Mmm…" She moaned. "…have you ever wondered what octoling tastes like?"_

_ "__Oh, Aurora…you know I'm dying to find out." He stated seductively._

_Midas leaned his face in at the same time she did, and their lips met in the middle, engaging rapidly in an aggressive kiss. Sparing each other the middle-school stuff, they dove right into battling each other's tongues, fighting ardently to get in each other's mouths. Aurora wasted no time in establishing a grip on her inkling, pulling him against her by his lower back. Each time they came up for air, their mouths remained sloppily connected by a stretchy ink strand, whose color was a dirty mixture of its hosts' team colors._

_The lovers held no regard for the bystanders around them. Within just seconds of starting their intense make-out session, Aurora's knees buckled underneath her, and she pulled Midas down with her until he was positioned on top of her on the ground. From there, it was only a matter of time. Aurora's world disintegrated around her as her senses lost focus and became powerfully overwhelmed by Midas's body. She began losing the turf war going on in their mouths, as she could not hold back the strong moans that kept emanating from her throat. She could really _feel_ how ready he was through both their shorts. It only served to prep her further as well._

_Once he felt her start to falter from returning his kisses, he took it as an invitation to begin planting them down her neck. While doing so, he sifted his hands around to the front of her pelvis and stuck them underneath her shirt, caressing her bare abdomen as if it already contained dozens of his spawn. He slowly worked them farther up from there, feeling around the fabric of her bra…and welling up within her an uncontrollable desire to have it removed. He was being so _patient_ against her yearnful cries…_teasing_ her with his every move…_wringing_ from her every savory drop of lust he could draw…until it drove her to absolute insanity. If he didn't start removing her clothes soon, she felt like she was gonna…_

_ …__like she was gonna…_

_ …__she was gonna…_

_ …__Oh cod…she was gonna…_

* * *

Aurora jolted awake suddenly as an unprecedented surge of pleasure exploded through her body, locking her in a sort of vice-like paralysis while her involuntary moans filled the bedroom. Every inch of her was filled to the brim with this feeling, causing her to twitch under the sleeping bag cover with each electric wave of it that passed through her. Her senses failed to return to her completely until about ten or fifteen seconds later, when the rushes slowly began to subside. At that point, she was finally able to piece together what had just happened.

For one thing, she had just inked the crap out of the sleeping bag. Her hand was already stuffed down her shorts, which explained how she had managed to do this to herself, and by moving her fingers around in there, all she could feel was warm, slimy ink coating the insides of her thighs. It was obviously on her hand as well…and her shorts…and the sleeping bag cover. It was everywhere.

On top of that, Aurora realized that her wide-open mouth was pressed firmly against Wah-Wah. She quickly withdrew her face from the fabric that made up his cheek, and she reached for it with her free hand to survey the damage. Unsurprisingly, her childhood plushie had unwillingly gone on the ride with her. She had apparently made out with him in her sleep, and in doing so, she had gotten him soaked with her saliva. There was no way for her to know how long she had been slobbering on him like that, so the only thing she could assume was that he needed to be washed again. Badly. And…everything else, of course.

She had a feeling she would be doing her own laundry tomorrow.

In the wake of her unexpected orgasm, Aurora's first sensible thought was whether she had awoken Ula with her moaning. Judging by the snoring coming from the bed, however, her question on that was answered rather quickly. That would've been the worst possible level of embarrassment for her. For both of them, in fact.

Aurora didn't know what to do with herself. Her comfy bedtime shorts were soaked, and so was the inside of the sleeping bag. Not to mention her Wah-Wah, who also felt too damp to keep close to her body. She laid perfectly still in the middle of it all, hand still in contact with her nether region, panting heavily while her heartrate gradually returned to normal. And, of course, her mind was still saturated with thoughts of Midas. She just…_could not_ get him out of her head. How was she even going to get back to sleep?

She sighed. After such a crazy dream, her thoughts about what she had experienced continued to swirl around unimpeded. With nothing else to do but lay there and think about her crush, Aurora quickly found herself resuming her previous activity before she could pull her hand out of her pants. Starting with a gentle, circular motion, the lustful octo failed to hold in another long, deep moan as she surrendered herself and let the feeling overtake her a second time. Her bedding was already completely ruined, she figured, so there couldn't have been any harm in giving her body more of what it desperately craved. She didn't care that Ula was sleeping right next to her. With all of her walls crumbled, she gave in and just…let it happen.

She _had_ to win the rematch tomorrow. Every fiber of her feeble being was attached _stringently_ to that cause. If she and her friends couldn't prevail over the inkling boys, then…

…were these nights ever going to stop?


	4. Chapter 4: The Rematch

The next morning, Aurora dragged herself out of the sleeping bag as early as she could, before the sun had a chance to show its rays through the bedroom window. It was still two hours before she would normally get up, but obviously, today was an exception. She had struggled to get any sleep last night as it was, so she figured those two hours wouldn't make a difference to her. There were some things she needed to do before her friends woke up, and they needed to be done quietly.

The first thing she did after picking herself up and setting aside her Wah-Wah was shuffle clumsily to the dresser to grab her day clothes, and then to the bathroom to shower herself off. She did so with stiff, awkward steps, since everything from her waist down was still rather damp with musky ink. As such, emerging from the sleeping bag made her cold and uncomfortable, and she knew from looking down at herself that the mess she had made was _excessively_ noticeable. She was afraid of what she would later find inside the sleeping bag.

It had not been her intention to spend last night the way that she had, though…it wasn't exactly like she could control what happened in her dreams. Hell, she couldn't even control what happened in her mind while she was awake! With such a large part of her mind, and her body, apparently, focused on Midas, her unfortunate little accident was probably nothing short of an inevitability. She thought about these things while she took her shower, feeling stupid, nonetheless, for putting herself in the situation she was in that morning.

Aurora remembered Bella's suggestion to Ula the night before, which was to try showering with a lighter shade of ink than normal. It would supposedly lift her mood and help improve her outlook on things. However, while Aurora loved her usual choice of pastel purple for her hair, she felt like tipping the shade any closer to white would make her look like an albino. And, after all, who'd want to date an albino octoling? Not Midas, the way she figured.

In consideration of how last night had gone for her, she kept her shower as short as possible to avoid letting her mind open to more dirty thoughts. Once she was back out in the bustling public of the city, she imagined, she wouldn't have as much of an issue keeping her _libidinous_ side in check. Therefore, she cut off the showerhead after just five minutes and stepped around the curtain to dry herself off. She reached up with one hand to grab the towel from the rack, and…

…she found nothing there. Confused, she proceeded to grasp at thin air for another moment before taking a look at the empty rack. It was at that moment that the realization hit her. Ula had used their _only towel_ to shower the night before. Aurora put a hand on her forehead in exasperation as she began frantically searching the tiny bathroom for the towel, intending to use it anyway in spite of the fact. Unfortunately, the item was simply not in the bathroom. Ula must've tossed it somewhere near the bed before going to sleep, and she had just failed to notice it before stepping into the shower.

Well…she did have one alternative. Since she was already planning to wash her bedtime clothes to begin with, she decided on using her top to dry herself off before throwing on her day clothes. It was obviously not as effective as the towel would've been, but it was her preferred choice over trying to streak through the bedroom in search of it. If only she and her friends lived in a more organized manner, then…such decisions wouldn't be necessary.

Some areas of Aurora's body were still dripping when she was forced to discard her top. Despite that, she slid into her day clothes after shaking as much ink as she could out of her hair. The imperfect job she had done resulted in a few damp spots on her shirt and her shorts, but there was nothing she could do about that. After everything, she grabbed her glasses off the counter and pushed them against her face, staring at herself blankly in the mirror with the clear sight they provided. She hoped that, today, the face staring back at her would be the face of a winner. The face that would win over Midas's hearts after her battle efforts win over his attention.

Her next order of business was to clean up. Now that she had used her bedtime top in place of her towel, her entire set of night clothes was too soggy to simply toss on the floor and come back for later. She had to wash everything, including her Wah-Wah, and _especially_ the sleeping bag, which was technically a shared item. She had absolutely no idea how she was going to wash the sleeping bag, but…she had to try, at least. Otherwise, the poor octo _knew_ that it was going to come back to haunt her.

After making sure she looked presentable, Aurora scooped her inky night clothes off the bathroom floor and cautiously opened the door. Ula was easily the heaviest sleeper in their apartment, so she wasn't too worried about waking her up with her antics. Her real concern was Bella. When she stepped up to the sleeping bag and dropped her clothes on top of it, she bent forward and attempted to pick everything up at once: the clothes, the sleeping bag, and Wah-Wah. She wanted to get all of it into the kitchen in one trip if she could, since multiple trips through the living room would only increase her chances of waking the others with her noises and her passing shadows.

While the stuff wasn't very hard to carry, it certainly made her feel a bit…top-heavy. With both arms under the pile, Aurora waddled towards the door on her way to the kitchen. She bumped into the doorframe a couple times, thanks to her obstructed vision, but it didn't seem to make too much noise. After that, she made a left and snuck past the couch and the loveseat, where she could partially see the splayed-out bodies of Ophelia and Bella during their sound sleep. She held her breath as she passed them.

Overall, getting to the kitchen didn't prove to be much of a hassle. However, it was only the first step. Once Aurora tottered up to the kitchen sink with her bundle of soiled fabrics, she dumped them on the tile floor next to her and got to work, starting with her night clothes. She turned on the faucet after placing the plug over the drain, and she lowered her top and her shorts into the sink. Then, she leaned over and swiped the small bottle of detergent that they kept near the windowsill, popped the cap, and squirted a subtle amount of it onto the items. Already, as the sink slowly began to fill with water from the faucet, Aurora could see the light purple ink that was staining her clothes begin to dissolve into the cleaning mixture.

While the girls' shower ran distilled, low-tide ink, their toilet and sinks used water. As long as it was restricted to just their hands or feet, water never posed an issue to inklings and octolings like themselves. The kitchen sink was their only option for doing laundry, since they weren't exactly wealthy enough to treat themselves to a washing machine. Aurora wasn't too experienced using the sink to wash clothes, so she became rather pleased with herself when she saw the difference emerge in her top and shorts. Ula, who did all her friends' laundry the majority of the time, was the undisputed expert, but she obviously couldn't be allowed to know why the stuff needed cleaning.

Next up, then, was Wah-Wah. Aurora left her night clothes in the sink while it continued to fill up, just to make sure she got every last bit of the ink out, and she leaned over to grab her favorite plushie from the floor. Holding him in front of her face for a moment, she grinned back at his innocent, all-forgiving smile. She felt bad for having to wash him again, so soon after Ophelia had already done it for her. At least he was getting the care she felt he deserved. Before lowering him into the sink and grabbing the detergent again, she silently promised him that she would be gentle, and that she would try not to suffocate him with her tongue ever again.

With the plush still in her hand, she drizzled an extremely small amount of detergent over the top of his head and began to lather it around. Unlike with her night clothes, Aurora opted to scrub her plush by hand. She found it to be a more intimate gesture, and she figured it would help her wash out the stains more thoroughly. She was also as careful as could be, making sure to preserve his colors and his beady eyes to the best of her ability. During it all, she kept whispering apologies to him for everything she had done to him, even if her only crime had been a slobbery display of love.

When she was done, and Wah-Wah was feeling sufficiently heavy with water from the sink, Aurora planted a small kiss between his eyes and set him on the counter to dry. He was quite absorbent, even for a plush, so she expected it to take all day. Seeing as she would be spending the day back out in the city, though, she didn't mind it. She followed up with Wah-Wah's treatment by extracting her night clothes from the sink and holding them out at full arm's length to wring them out, doing so cautiously to avoid getting too much water on herself. Then, she laid them next to him on the counter.

The next part was the part she had been dreading. The last thing still sitting on the floor…was the sleeping bag. Aurora was reluctant to even look inside the thing, for fear of yielding shamefully to the magnitude of what she had done to it. The sheer size and bulkiness of the item was enough to daunt her as it was. She simply could not see how it was going to fit into the sink. On top of that, it seemed nearly impossible for her to wash all of her ink out of it without making it obvious to her friends that she had inked it in the first place. Her only hope was to sleep in it every night until it could properly dry off. After all, she _had_ marked her territory in it…technically.

She let out a deep sigh as she bent over one more time and mangled the sleeping bag into her grasp with both of her arms. Indeed, there was no way it was going to fit into the sink. Her only course of action, in that case, was to turn it inside out and try to manually scrub the stains out over the sink without splashing too much water everywhere. She was still rather groggy from how early in the morning it was, so the thought of doing that did not fill her with much joy.

Before going through with it, Aurora unzipped the bag as far as it would go and peered into it nervously. Sure enough, as she had figured, the damage was extensive. The entire lower half of the inside of the bag was stained purple, with additional, various-sized splotches dotting the upper edge of the mess. It was also damp, still, as Aurora found by lightly touching the stains with her fingers. And, of course, it smelled a little off. Most varieties of ink, including the ink she had just showered with, was odorless, but this, well…this was far from it. Her nose turned up a bit at the fact.

The water in the sink was still running, so Aurora knew it was time to get down to business. She let out another pained sigh and pushed her fist through the back side of the sleeping bag, forcing the inside of it out through the opening she had created with the zipper. In doing so, the stains became a lot more visible under the light of the kitchen. Then, she stepped forward, leaned herself against the counter in front of the sink, and stood on her toes to broaden her access to the running water. She just hoped she would be able to complete her task without messing up the kitchen.

Just as she was beginning to place the sleeping bag under the faucet, however, her hearts jumped out of her chest when she heard a voice from behind her.

"…Aurora? What are you doing in here?"

Aurora immediately cut the faucet and whipped her head around, startled greatly by the unexpected intrusion. She dropped from her toes and gave her visitor a helpless, deer-in-the-headlights glance. It was Ophelia, standing in the doorway to the kitchen in her night clothes. Aurora thought she had been careful in preserving her friends' sleep, but…luck didn't seem to be on her side.

"Oh…'Lia…" She babbled. "I…um…what are _you_ doing in here?"

Ophelia cracked a grin. "I'm checking on you, Aurora, because I know that you're usually up to something when you answer your friends like that. I heard the shower running earlier, and then the kitchen faucet, so I decided to come see what's got you running around so early in the morning."

"I…I guess I just…couldn't sleep. Decided to be productive to…you know…clear my head a little?" She winced internally, knowing how incredibly obvious her lie was.

"Mhm…I see." Ophelia acknowledged, though she didn't look like she was buying it. She looked at the counter next to Aurora and saw the items she had left there to dry. "So…you decided to do your laundry, then, huh?"

"Uh…yeah. I wanted to get it done before we all took off later. To make sure it got done."

"Well…Ula was already planning to do that tonight, so you didn't really have to." Ophelia stated, crossing her arms. "And, uh…I see you also washed your plush again. Did I not do a good job yesterday morning?"

"No, no, it's not that, it's just…" Aurora paused to try and formulate a good response, but she simply couldn't come up with anything. She knew how incriminating she must've looked, with both her plush _and_ the giant sleeping bag in the kitchen before anyone else had woken up. A few moments passed like that, in silence, until the pressure of her friend's expectant glare made her suddenly crack. "Please, 'Lia, it's not what it looks like! I swear!"

Ophelia smirked again, eventually breaking into a light chuckle. Aurora kept expecting Ophelia to scold her in times like this, but she'd always end up laughing it off and taking it easy. "'Not what it looks like?' Girl, I found you in here at the nick of dawn with the sleeping bag in your hands, dunkin' yourself over the sink. I don't even _know_ what this looks like."

Aurora had no response to give as she bashfully watched her friend walk over to her from the doorway. Even with all the precautions she had taken…she had never prepared for one of her friends to actually catch her. She was at least glad it was Ophelia and not one of the others.

"…You weren't supposed to see this…" She whimpered.

"Yeah, I had a feeling." Ophelia replied with a patient look on her face. "You don't normally start stirring like this until well after sunrise. What's been going on lately?"

Aurora just shrugged. She repeatedly avoided making eye contact with Ophelia, as she often did when facing embarrassment. "…Just…stuff…"

When Ophelia arrived at the counter and leaned herself against it by Aurora's side, she glanced down at the inside-out sleeping bag that was still resting in her friend's arms. She was not blind to the discoloration of its fabric, as evidenced by her intrigued facial expression.

"So…I take it you had a bit of an accident last night?"

Aurora immediately hid her face from view as her cheeks began to boil purple again. A few seconds went by before she silently nodded her head, confirming her dastardly deed to the sympathetic octo. Ophelia did not give a discernible reaction, though Aurora chose not to observe her response anyway. Her morning was not getting off to a good start.

Without saying anything at first, Ophelia reached forward with both hands and kindly took the sleeping bag from Aurora, setting it in the sink thereafter to soak. The bulky item displaced a lot of water, but she didn't seem to have any trouble forcing it into the tub so that every bit of it was submerged. Aurora continued to cover her face with her elbow, determined to hide her shame from her friend without an object to help her. Ophelia was used to seeing such things from her, and the sight never failed to make her feel sorry for the fragile octo.

"Aww, Aurora, it happens to the best of us. I don't think any of us here have lasted since our move without doing it at least once." She assured.

Aurora was suddenly very confused by that statement. She unhid her face and glimpsed up at Ophelia, trying faithfully to maintain an expression that didn't seem too skeptical. "Wh…huh?"

"Didn't you hear Bella yesterday at the canal? She totally lost control of herself laughing at something Ula did. It was pretty funny, but…you seemed to be a bit distracted even then." Ophelia explained. "It's not your fault, trust me. No one will think any less of you."

At that moment, Aurora realized that Ophelia had gotten the wrong idea. She apparently thought that something _completely_ different had happened in the sleeping bag last night. In all honesty, Aurora did not want to correct her. It was a lot easier for her to stomach the aftermath of her friend thinking she had _pissed herself_, rather than…what had actually happened. Therefore, she decided to keep her mouth shut and respond with another emotionless shrug. Ophelia seemed ready to offer her friend some support.

"Do you think that maybe you're just nervous for the rematch this afternoon?" She asked. "Could that be what caused it?"

Aurora was glad that she had avoided spilling the truth again, but now, she was operating on a misconception. She shrugged a third time. "…I guess."

"Well, perish the thought." Ophelia declared with a corny grin. "Those guys look easier to splat than a toddler holding an ice cream cone. If you ask me, I think we're going to kick their asses."

"You really think so?" Aurora babbled.

"Of course. I may be a humble, seaweed-loving octoling from the bottom-feeders' district, but I know how to handle a Hydra Splatling. You also got Bella, who knows her way around her dualies as if she were born holding them. And Eight, well…we all know Eight." She paused to chuckle for a moment, which Aurora did not do herself. "What have you got to worry about?"

The answer to that question was _Midas_, Aurora thought to herself. She usually had a lot of fun in turf wars and other ink-splatting shenanigans, so they were never a very concerning matter to her. The stakes were just so _high_ this time, though, and she just couldn't bring herself to confess those stakes to her friends. With Ophelia standing alone in the kitchen with her, giving her nothing but full, undivided attention, she considered surrendering and just telling her friend what was really going on, but she still couldn't overcome the resistive forces tugging within herself. She didn't want any of her friends knowing what they were going to be battling for, since she didn't want it to affect the amount of effort they would put forth.

The sad thing was, she knew how selfish that choice was. She just didn't know how else to approach it. Therefore, her response did not directly answer Ophelia's question.

"…I trust you guys."

"There you go. That's the spirit." Ophelia concluded, shooting Aurora an assuring wink. "And hey, for all we know, maybe we'll get lucky today and find ourselves a date for the Splatfest. The more time spent on the town, the better our chances!"

As her friend stood up from against the counter and strolled over to the pantry to grab herself an early breakfast, Aurora just stood in place and stared blankly at the wall. If they went out there and won that rematch today, she would _have_ to tell them about Midas, right? She couldn't possibly keep the charade going forever, especially if doing so would mean keeping her distance from her friends during the Splatfest. On the flip side, however, spilling the beans would come at the price of _also_ revealing the truth about her deceitfulness. What would her friends think about being tricked into fighting for a love interest? An _inkling_ love interest? One that came with the risk of pissing off said inkling's friends and starting a conflict that they didn't ask for?

Aurora really wished that finding love was as easy for her as it was for Bella. After all, out of her entire friend group, she knew damn well that the only one who was likely going to receive any dating invitations was Bella. Though, to be honest, Aurora knew that her chances of getting with an octo boy for the Splatfest became zero the moment she had laid eyes on Midas. No one she would try to court, kiss, nor fool around with was going to hit the same mark as long as Midas was still in her head. She had said it to herself several times already, but she felt like she needed to say it again.

_Nothing_ was more important than winning that rematch.

* * *

Throughout the morning, Aurora remained untalkative. Her first instinct after finishing her heart-to-heart with Ophelia and quietly leaving the kitchen was to go sit on the couch, leaving her bedtime items by the sink. Bella was still asleep on the loveseat when Aurora returned to the living room, so she was reluctant to shuffle too much or turn on the TV. However, when Ophelia came strutting back in with a bowl of cereal and plopped down next to Aurora, she immediately grabbed the remote and turned it on herself, blatantly disregarding her friend's slumber. At that point, Bella was awake within the next five minutes, whether she liked it or not. After all, half the house was already awake, and when that was the case, the other half was expected to deal with whatever disturbances would ensue.

For the next hour or so, while Bella begrudgingly dragged herself through her morning routine, and Ula continued to sleep noisily in the bedroom, Aurora and Ophelia passed the time with the pointless, early-morning drabble on the TV. Their real interest was in the morning news, which didn't come on until a little after sunrise, since they needed to know what venues would be in rotation for the day. Yesterday's battle with the inkling boys had been just after lunchtime, so, according to their agreement, they needed to show up to whatever venue and mode would be active at that time. Aurora naturally started to get nervous as the announcement grew closer and closer.

When the time did finally come, Bella had gotten dressed and was in the kitchen fixing up breakfast, and Ula was still in the bedroom showing no signs of life. No one bothered to go in there and say anything, since they knew she wasn't going to be participating in the rematch anyway. Bella called to Aurora while she was in the kitchen, asking what the deal was with her little setup by the sink, but Ophelia stepped in and saved her by deflecting the question with an undetailed rebuttal. She gave Aurora a trustworthy smile, which Aurora returned thankfully.

The three of them were rather fond of most of the day's venues, which included hotspots like The Reef, Albacore Hotel, Mako Mart, and Humpback Pump Track for the morning, and less-booming, outskirts venues, like Port Mackerel, Piranha Pit, Camp Triggerfish, and Sturgeon Shipyard for the evening. However, it was the afternoon's venues that they were _really_ interested in, and the options they were given stuck out to them…for opposite reasons.

As always, the mode was stated before the venues themselves, so as soon as the afternoon rotation was announced, the girls knew what type of battle they were going to be fighting. To their excitement, it turned out to be _splat zones_. Aurora and Bella loved splat zones for its simplicity, while Ophelia preferred it for its static objective, which made guarding from the backlines with a Hydra Splatling much easier on her. Aurora's nerves were slightly sated by this announcement, knowing that she and her friends were going to be fighting a battle in which they were a lot more versed. More than rainmaker, that was for sure.

The thing that _didn't_ look so appealing to them, however, was the venue selection. The only venues that were scheduled to host splat zone battles after lunch were Moray Towers…and Blackbelly Skatepark. First of all, the overbearing verticality on Moray Towers made it a _nightmare_ battleground for Aurora and Bella, whose weapons were better suited for flat, midrange combat. Also, luck did _not_ tend to favor the bold on Moray Towers, where reckless moves often led to cornered situations where the only options were trying to super-jump to someone else…or surrendering shamefully to the opponents.

Blackbelly Skatepark, in addition, boasted many tight engagements that encouraged surprise attacks, and the massive, cylindrical tower in the center of the arena always caused a multitude of hyper-tense fights in order to gain a pivotal vantage point over both zones. Aurora figured the close encounters on Blackbelly Skatepark would service Bella very well, considering her remarkable agility with the Enperry Dualies, but the issue with the central tower made her a bit wary. If she and Bella could succeed in keeping that tower cleared for Ophelia and Eight, their powerful, back-line weapons could help them use the high ground to its ultimate potential. The problem was in making sure that the inkling boys didn't accomplish the same task, since yielding the tower to the Splatling guy and the Dynamo Roller would certainly spell disaster for them. Blackbelly Skatepark was the undisputable _pinnacle_ of high-risk, high-reward athleticism.

As far as choosing between the two options, Aurora and her friends were split down the middle. She and Bella were both in favor of Blackbelly Skatepark, while Ophelia and Eight both preferred Moray Towers. Though Aurora hadn't actually contacted Eight to ask about her preference, the three of them already knew that Moray Towers was their friend's favorite venue. Her E-Liter made that obvious. Therefore, it seemed as if the venue they would be playing on would, once again, be up to the inkling boys.

Unsurprisingly, the news about the battle they would be having, and where it would be, had the effect of raising the girls' anticipation. Speculation about their rematch, as well as their battle strategy, brewed fiercely in their heads from the moment the venues were announced. Then, as the morning wore on, and Ula finally began stirring around their living space, the three battlers couldn't keep their minds off the upcoming afternoon. Eventually, their itch to round up their weapons and head out for the square became too strong to ignore. When the time finally came for them to grab their stuff and depart for their critical reunion with the inkling boys, they left Ula on her own in the apartment, per her request, to "weather the storm" and make herself breakfast for lunch.

Aurora was also instructed to contact Eight as they were descending the stairwell, which she promptly did as soon as they reached the sidewalk. She tried to stay close to her friends while she had her phone out in order to avoid bumping into any passing octolings. And, considering the time of day, there were quite a few. A fair share of them even had their weapons with them, just like Aurora and her friends. The weather was pristine, and, thanks to the upcoming Splatfest, everyone in the city was amped to get their valuable practice in.

Even through text message, Eight was definitely not outgoing. Aurora's first message to her was, "Leaving now, u ready?" After an impatient wait of about thirty seconds, she received her peculiar friend's response, which was simply…"Ye."

Aurora tried again, hastily typing out another message while occasionally glancing up ahead for direction. Despite knowing the answer already, she wanted to see what Eight's venue preference was.

"What ven is ur fav?" She messaged.

Sure enough, after another strangely long pause, she received her answer. "MT."

Eight's texts never explained much about her, except that she must've had arthritis in both of her thumbs. It would've been nice to at least see her use emojis, but even those seemed to convey too much personality for her liking. Aurora felt guilty for not keeping up with her the previous evening after parting ways, but it's not like anyone could blame her. Eight _rarely_ had much to say. That was precisely why Aurora's time with her in the square yesterday had felt so memorable.

She wanted to give it one more shot, though…she didn't really know what to say. So…she improvised. "U excited?"

She waited. Ten seconds. Twenty. Forty. A minute. Eventually, she frowned and slid her phone back into her shorts pocket. She had to accept when Eight didn't feel like talking. Yesterday had been quite a wild ride for her, after all, with both the seaweed and the inkling boys' ridicule buttering up her mind since the battle. It seemed like Aurora had already been too quick to take her openness that day for granted.

However, just as the Deepsea Metro station was coming into view about a block and a half away, Aurora felt her phone vibrate. She quickly pulled it out of her pocket, checked the display, and observed Eight's response.

"Idk. R u?"

* * *

The walk did not take long after that. Within about ten minutes, the girls came to a stop by the staircase of the metro station to wait for Eight. It was quite a busy spot, with inklings and octolings constantly traversing the staircase on their way in and out of the station, as well as the two crosswalks that joined at the corner of the block. Almost everywhere the girls looked, their eyes would fall on a sea of ink weapons moving around the scattered crowds on the backs of their various owners. Clearly, the announcement of the Splatfest yesterday was responsible for it. They had a feeling the venues were going to be pretty packed with onlookers that afternoon, depending on where their battle was going to take place.

Aurora stayed distracted during their wait, as usual. This time, though, her distraction came from her phone, which she couldn't seem to stop checking after giving Eight her latest response. She had answered her friend's question with, "Idk either," typed rather lazily, and she was hoping to see some reassurance come from her in return. Unfortunately, it never did. Even when Eight finally appeared across the street with her E-Liter and approached her and the girls on the crosswalk, she said nothing about their conversation. Aurora saw something in Eight that she couldn't describe, and she still wanted to connect with her a bit to find out more about that something, so her introversion over the phone was rather disappointing. As Eight met up with the group and reciprocated their greeting with another kind wave, Aurora pocketed her phone again and remained quiet.

With the whole team now together, the time had come for the girls to make their way to Inkopolis Square, where the inkling boys would be waiting. They were already standing right next to the metro station, where they had gotten off last evening on their way home, but they did not plan on making their trip back in the same manner. Instead, they opted to save oodles of time by utilizing the square's landing point and super-jumping there as a group. That's what most denizens of the city did, after all. If one looked up at the sky on any given morning or afternoon, the most prominent thing in their sight was usually the dozens of squids and octos that were regularly jumping around the city on daily errands.

Thanks to that very convenience, Aurora and her friends arrived at the square less than half a minute after meeting with Eight. Even Ophelia, who was lugging her oversized Hydra Splatling with her, stuck the landing perfectly. They were there with the specific intent to initiate a battle through the battle tower, knowing that such an intent would grant them the exception they needed to traverse the famous hotspot with their weapons visible.

The girls surveyed the square and took in the sights around them as they dispersed from the landing marker and began walking towards said battle tower. The streets in the area were still quite crowded, which was understandable. After all, the Splatfest _had_ just been announced yesterday, and it wasn't like every inkling and octoling in the city had had the time to come vote simultaneously. Aurora and the others gawked at the Splatfest kiosk, which, amazingly, still had a line stretching about fifty feet in the direction of the shoe shop. It seemed like the voting was going to continue like that, on tap, until the moment of the big night. They just hoped there would be enough t-shirts for everybody.

Aurora fixed her gaze forward as the battle tower loomed before them. She felt like that structure represented the collective sum of all her upcoming tribulations, considering its reputation as the central hub of all ink-splatting skirmishes. Her feeling was further cemented, in fact, by the shocking sight of the inkling boys standing under it already, in the shade of its awning, with their weapons poised. A nervous tingle erupted down her back and exploded into a body-wide maelstrom of anxious tension when she spotted Midas among them. He didn't have his phone with him this time, and as she approached the tower with her friends, he appeared to be _staring at her_.

"Well, well, the octos actually decided to show up. I'm impressed." The Splatling guy greeted as the girls joined them under the awning. He stood leaning against his Splatling with a look in his eye that truly exemplified his cockiness.

Bella scoffed. "Duh! What the hell made you clowns think we were going to _back down_ from you? The intimidating snare of your splash walls?"

"Nah, I just didn't think you had the courage. If it weren't for your four-eyed friend over there hitting us up after you disappeared yesterday, you wouldn't even be standing here right now." He jeered.

Aurora self-consciously pushed her glasses closer to her face. She hated the kind of attention they sometimes earned her, especially while Midas seemed to be aware of her as his admirer. Fashion was an integral part of inkling culture, as the girls had learned shortly after immigrating, and glasses like hers didn't exactly fit the description of "fresh." Her gaze trailed away from Midas and the Splatling guy and fell onto the ground as she attempted to deflect the eyes that she felt settling on her. Though she'd normally try to strut her stuff in the presence of her inkling crush, her crush's snarky friends had a way of keeping her from feeling like her sexiest self.

As she retreated away, Ophelia claimed the spotlight by addressing the boys. "Look, none of that matters. The point now is that we're here, and we're hoping to finally put this carp behind us today. Does that sound good to everyone?"

The Splatling guy smirked. "I mean…I thought it was already behind us yesterday, but sure. We're at least gonna get more warm-up for the Splatfest off you octos today, so thank you for that."

The Dynamo Roller then spoke up from behind his friend. He glared at the girls with an unreadable expression, thanks to the skull bandana that covered his mouth. "And when we win, we expect you to hold up your end of the agreement. Wherever we decide to hang out during the Splatfest, you are not to."

No one on Aurora's team reacted to the spiteful inkling's decree except Bella, who rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Yeah, yeah, we've heard your edgy garbage before. When _we_ win, we expect you to take back the shit you said about us yesterday and _respect_ us like actual cephalopods. How does that sound?"

Just then, literally everyone on the Splatling guy's team, including Midas, looked directly at Aurora. If she wasn't sure that the _entire party's_ eyes had been on her just a moment ago, she certainly was now. Their undiscernible glares punctured through every layer of resolve she had within herself and reduced her to an apprehensive wreck, resulting in her composure falling completely apart. Her knees buckled, and she began frantically stroking one of her curly, suction-cupped locks of hair.

"Sure…among other things." The Splatling guy declared calmly, keeping perfect eye contact with the quivering octo. Only Eight seemed to notice what was going on.

Next, the only remaining thing to be done before the two teams could super-jump to the venue was decide what venue they were actually going to be fighting on. Both sides already knew that they were going to be fighting a splat zone battle, and they also knew what their venue options were. Additionally, it was assumed that both sides had already premeditated on their selections, removing the need to discuss them under the tower awning. Aurora was aware that her team had not been able to settle on a venue together, so she found the upcoming resolution to be the most nerve-wracking part of the whole exchange.

Last time, Aurora and her friends were forced to give in to the inkling boys' preferred venue, which had been Snapper Canal, by the simple fact that they were desperate for someone to play against. The boys had leveraged the fact that the girls were more interested in playing than they were in a specific venue, so they had essentially refused to fight unless the venue was of their choice. This time, the girls were stuck in a similar position, but, unlike last time, their trap was the fact that they did not collectively share a venue preference at all. Therefore, just as the Splatling guy began fishing around in his pocket for a coin with which to do the coin-toss, Ophelia spoke up to stop him.

"Wait. There's…no point in doing that." She mentioned gloomily. "We're…undecided."

Grins quickly formed on all the inkling boys' faces, except Midas's. The Splatling guy retracted his hand from his pocket and returned it to his hip, delighted by the unexpected outcome. He snickered.

"Alright, awesome. In that case, we're taking you octos to Blackbelly Skatepark. We decided this morning that we didn't feel like dealing with your back-line shit on Moray Towers, and we also thought it would be fitting to humiliate you in front of a larger crowd. Makes it more dramatic."

Aurora saw herself performing better on Blackbelly Skatepark, but the tradeoff was in that very point that the Splatling guy just made. She wasn't sure she'd be able to ignore the sheer volume of spectators that would likely be watching her battle. She understood the importance of channeling her focus while she fought, however difficult it would be, even when her audience didn't seem to be in her favor. She glanced at her friends to see what their reactions were, expecting them to be mixed, though…she instead observed a levelheaded acknowledgement from each of them. Once again, Bella looked the most confident out of the four of them.

"Whatever you say. If it's BS you want, it's BS you're gonna get!" Bella retorted, feeling rather clever from her pun. She removed her dualies from her hips and started twirling them in front of the boys. "Are we just gonna stand around now? Maybe ask each other out to the Splatfest? Or are we gonna get you guys' defeat out of the way?"

The inklings promptly hoisted their weapons into their grip to signal their readiness, which Aurora and her other friends did as well. Then, they watched the Splatling guy and his lackeys step to the side a bit, clearing a path to the tower's interior, where they would be super-jumping to the venue. He gestured regally with one of his hands, encouraging the girls to do the honors. In doing so, his gaze returned to Aurora.

"Ladies first."

Another chill blitzed down the perturbed octo's back as she fell under the inklings' scrutiny once again, completely under the noses of Bella and Ophelia. Meanwhile, her friends took the Splatling guy's invitation at face value and began marching towards the tower's sliding doors, leaving Aurora behind them to pass by the malicious group at the peak of their intimidation. She began walking after them without hesitation, though the pressure she felt standing so close to Midas and his hostile friends translated into a physical feeling of weight that prevented her from moving at more than a snail's pace. She held her Kensa Splattershot close to her chest as if it were her only guardian against their unforgiving glares.

Despite her fear, however, Aurora still managed to snag a glimpse at Midas while she was passing in front of him. As she expected, he was already looking straight back at her, and as their eyes met, they studied each other viciously. His glossy, blue eyes and well-groomed hair appendage worked absolute witchcraft on her pheromones, forcing another breakdown of her resolve beneath the resilient impression she was trying to maintain. However, she continued to power through her overloaded psyche, even going as far as to use her state of mind to her advantage. She craned her head to the side as she passed to extend their exposure to each other, and, when she was sure she still had his attention, she gave him a provocative wink. Additionally, she began swaying her hips more with each step, hoping to present to him the aspects of her physique that she thought were most enticing. After being forced into a retractive position by having her glasses insulted, Aurora wanted to regain control of her situation by eliciting a lustful response from Midas. The more he checked her out, the more validated she felt.

Unfortunately, that was all yanked out from under her rather quickly when the Splatling guy discreetly stuck out his heel, tripping her in the midst of her flirtatious flair. She gave a small cry as she stumbled forward and threw her arms out in front of her, causing her to drop her Splattershot and falter to her knees. The inklings, now standing directly over her, proceeded to laugh heartily at her expense. Aurora's friends turned when they heard the sound, stopping just short of the jump platform on the other side of the door.

The Splatling guy had a special sort of underhanded kick to his laughter that made it sound more directed at her. On top of that, the remarks he made were just atrocious.

"Damn, octo, if you wanted to please him _that_ badly, maybe you should just stay on your knees like _this_. I think it suits you better."

His statement was punctuated with more supporting laughter from his friends. Even Midas cracked a small grin, which Aurora noticed when she glimpsed up at her oppressors and adjusted her crooked glasses. She _hated_ having to look up at the inklings like this. The humiliation it made her feel was practically insurmountable.

Luckily for her, Bella was nearby, and she wasn't going to stand for it. After hearing the events unfold and turning to see her friend on the ground, she took a few steps in the inklings' direction.

"Did you seriously just _trip_ our friend? You're _really_ going to descend to _cheap-shots_ like that?" She scolded.

The Splatling guy stood his ground. He kept his disinterested stance. "_You_ call it a cheap-shot. Little Four-Eyes here just needed another reminder of where she belongs. Caught her trying to _whore _over our Squiffer behind your backs."

"Oh, get _over_ yourselves. It pains me to think about how lonely you kids must be to call it 'whoring' whenever a girl so much as _looks_ at you. Aurora wouldn't hurt a fly, and it's sad that you think you can just _push her around_ like that because of it." Bella rebutted strongly. She did not break eye contact with the boys, nor did she even blink.

"What are you going to do about it?" He sneered.

"Step through that fucking door, and you'll find out." She declared coldly, pointing in the direction of the sliding door as she did so. Both groups recognized her response from the similar one given by the Splatling guy the day before, in the line for the Splatfest kiosk. "Go ahead, kiddos."

The manner in which her dualie-wielding friend steadfastly prolonged against the inkling boys in her defense had a way of propping up Aurora's spirits where they were otherwise collapsing into tears. She had suffered a lot of abuse the last twenty-four hours, whether at the tentacles of the inkling boys, or…in her own head. Her chance to pick herself up off the ground and grab her Splattershot while Bella faced the adversaries on her behalf was more imperative than she could ever communicate to her. It granted her the confidence to stand by her friends and face Midas again after the blow that had essentially sealed off the remainder of her self-esteem.

Likewise, the Splatling guy irritably lifted his weapon into its primed position after being told off by Bella with his own words, and he motioned for his friends to begin following him to the sliding doors. Meanwhile, Bella and the rest of the octo girls stood adamantly in place, waiting for them to make their departure before doing so themselves. As the boys passed, each member of their team locked eyes fiercely with a respective member of Aurora's team. It was the last show of rivalry that would occur between the bickering sides before the battle that would determine everything. They all understood the gravity of the upcoming rematch, and their motivations to win were ever strong, even if they were for different reasons. Only as Midas's eyes once again met with Aurora's did she finally realize, in full clarity, how intense this battle was about to be.

The Splatling guy turned to them when the last of his team stepped onto the jump platform.

"I'm going to make you eat those words."

The four of them then morphed into squids, and before the girls knew it, they were off. Bella led her friends onto the platform shortly after their disappearance, neglecting to say anything until the seconds leading up to their own exit. A very solemn mood dwelled over the group as they prepared to launch themselves into the most consequential battle of their citizenship thus far.

"He must be scared of me." She huffed. "He didn't even give me a chance to respond."

* * *

Blackbelly Skatepark never failed to attract some of the youngest, freshest sets of tentacles in the city. Inklings and octolings of all backgrounds flocked to the halfpipes of the booming hangout whenever the sun was present in the sky, sometimes remaining there even after the streetlights came on at night. Compared to the sprawling high-rise environment of Moray Towers, it was a land of ever-burning, excitable youth, and it was currently prepped for a splat zone skirmish that would rock the park visitors' afternoons.

As with all the venues, the battle arena was barred from entry on all sides while battles were being hosted, preventing the patrons of the park from disrupting the events. The only way to access the arena was to super-jump from the tower in the square, which is how Aurora, her friends, and the inkling boys had made it to their spawn platforms. Aurora had gotten a brief look at the arena from the sky a split second before landing forcefully in the fuchsia ink pool that filled her team's spawn platform. Her and her friends' hair was instantly dyed the same color as soon as they touched down in the stuff, solidifying, visually, their opposition to the sky-blue color of the inkling boys' ink.

Sitting against the guard rail behind the girls' spawn platform was a set of four ink-tanks, each filled to capacity with the corresponding, pinkish ink with which they would be fighting. Their weapons were already equipped with the means to store ink, but everyone in the city who had ever participated in an ink-splatting battle knew that victory was _dependent_ on the harness-mounted ink-tanks' ability to refill while submerged in the battlefield. The girls wasted no time in fastening the devices to each other's backs as soon as they arrived at the arena, assuming the boys to be doing the same thing over on the other spawn platform.

The first thing Aurora noticed in the ticking moments before their battle was…exactly what she had feared. All around the arena, in the unrestricted regions of the skatepark surrounding the guard rails, were _swathes_ of cheering onlookers. Inklings, octolings, jellyfish, urchins…it was an absolute freakshow. Judd was probably hanging out somewhere within the crowd as well, though he obviously wasn't visible from their position. Never, in all the battles she had fought, had Aurora seen such an audience. She figured the packs of viewers had to be a result of the Splatfest announcement. It seemed to have the effect of livening up the entire city in ways she couldn't fathom, considering her and her friends' humble upbringing in the pits. The poor octo could recall her most dreadful experiences of harassment after losing in front of big audiences, so the presence of such an overwhelming quantity of spectators opened a hollow pit in her stomach.

"Alright, girls, here we go." Bella rallied, gesturing her friends together with the dualies in her two hands. "We've been here before, so we know how this goes. That tower in the center is our number one priority. Protecting it should be just as important as protecting the zones. Eight, do you think you could start us off by keeping your laser on that so 'Lia can sneak on top of it?"

Eight showed absolutely no sign of interest in anything that was happening, but regardless, she answered Bella in her classic, minimalist manner.

"I can."

Bella nodded. "Cool. In that case…here's our game plan, y'all. Eight's gonna hold the tower from the ground long enough for 'Lia to stake her claim up there with the Hydra, while Aurora and I rush the middle and split up. I'll take the zone on their side, since I'm expecting them to cover it with the Splatling and the Squiffer, and I can dodge that shit fairly easily. Aurora, you take the zone closer to us, with 'Lia and Eight as your backup pairs of eyes. Once we have a foothold on the tower, Eight can push up there after 'Lia, and we'll have the two of them cover us from above while we defend the zones from the ground. How does that sound to everyone?"

"Sounds horrible." Ophelia joked. "I'm totally down."

"Aurora, what about you?"

Aurora stopped nervously adjusting her ink-tank after realizing that she had been doing so rather compulsively. She mustered up the courage to stop shivering in place and nodded her head once. "…Okay."

She and her friends got no more than a few seconds after Bella's explanation before the crowds enveloping the arena began to count down with loud voices. The sound of it caught Aurora off guard, prompting another dizzying wave of nervous energy to careen through her body. Her friends, on the other hand, responded to it by shifting into their prepared, starting stances. It was game time. The splat zones, the crowds, and most importantly, the inkling boys, were waiting. In the next five, short minutes…she'd be able to score Midas. She and her friends just had to play their cards right.

The audience projected their synchronous countdown euphorically, getting louder with each decreasing number. "…five…four…three…_two_…_one_…_SPLAT!_"

Immediately, Aurora and Bella opened fire with their weapons, covering the ground in front of the spawn platform with shiny, magenta ink. Ophelia and Eight could not fire their weapons without first building up a charge, so to save time, they withheld from their triggers until they could get a little closer to the center of the arena. Instead, they morphed right into their octo forms the instant the battle began, and they proceeded to move forward through their teammates' ink paths. Aurora and Bella were both quick to go octo as well, sliding in and out of the puddles in rapid alternation in order to quickly move to the edge of their turf and continue claiming more. Such was their classic rollout procedure, designed to carry them toward the objectives as quickly and efficiently as possible. The focus that filled their minds as soon as their fingers hit their triggers ultimately prevented them from hearing the overpowering roar of cheering from the observing crowds.

A small ledge of grating, a mere few feet off the ground, existed just left of what was considered the "main" area of the arena, overlooking the zone that sat by the girls' side of the tower. Eight pursued this ledge as soon as she was within shooting distance of it, climbing the resulting ink splat on the wall in order to position herself. The spot gave her a decent overview of the entire valley in which Aurora would be defending, while also providing her with an adequate angle to snipe perpetrators on top of the tower. In accordance with Bella's plan, she chose to do the latter first.

Meanwhile, Ophelia opted to cover the resulting weak spot over Aurora's jurisdiction from behind a small panel of cover that jutted out from the edge of the drop-off, near the stairway that descended into the valley on the inkling boys' side. She did so with the intent of quickly repositioning to the tower the moment she got the all-clear from Eight. She patiently generated a charge with the Hydra Splatling and aimed its spinning barrel down-sights along Aurora's lane, waiting just long enough for Aurora to swim past her toward the zone before releasing the charge in a spectacular barrage of long-range ink shots that coated the entire valley in thick sheets of turf for her friend to use. Combined with Aurora's firepower down in the valley itself, their splat zone was fully claimed within seconds' time.

Finally, once Bella passed the drop-off into mid next to Aurora, she split off to the left in pursuit of the boys' zone, exactly as she had described before the battle. She focused on covering as much turf as possible, aiming each of her dualies in random, haphazard directions with the hopes of quickly obtaining her special Ink Jet. Out of the four of them, she knew her job was going to be the most difficult. As such, she remained on high alert the entire time, checking every corner around her as she rounded the tower to make sure there were no looming signs of blue ink in her vicinity.

And those signs certainly didn't take long to appear. The boys arrived at the drop-off on their side of the tower a little later than Aurora's team, thanks to their bulky weapons slowing their swim speed considerably. When they _did_ arrive, however, they announced their presence with displays of powerful, aggressive might. Bella was only just beginning to cover the edge of their splat zone with the first few droplets of ink when the Dynamo Roller emerged from a stream of turf along the edge of their drop-off, reeling his massive, destructive weapon backwards for a strike that would not take prisoners. Bella, after eliciting a surprised gasp, retreated backwards through her turf in time to avoid a blanket of blue ink that propelled across the entire lane with the Roller's flick. She planned to maneuver her way back and fight valiantly for the zone, but when the .96 Gal appeared on top of their ledge of grating to dispense supporting fire upon their valley, she was forced to keep her distance and resort to tossing curling bombs for deterrence. The boys' zone was claimed by the Roller's greedy ink globs without so much as a hint of resistance from Bella.

At the same time, Aurora started receiving some pressure from the Splatling guy over on her side. His arrival in the valley on the girls' side of the tower came at quite the opportune moment, freshly after she had used her Splattershot ink to cap the zone. The first thing she saw was a splash wall over by the ramp leading to the top of the tower, which immediately alerted her of his incoming attack. Ophelia noticed it too, luckily, and by the time he emerged behind it to begin flinging ink in Aurora's direction, both she and her timid companion were ready to retaliate with overwhelming force. Aurora cracked into his wall considerably with a quick suction bomb, taking a second to refill her tank in the ink a second thereafter, while Ophelia ripped the petty barrier to shreds from her spot on the drop-off using the titanic range and ferocity of her Hydra shots. She was able to overtake the Splatling guy's position without having to move herself, thanks to the glaring superiority of her Splatling's range over his. The Splatling guy retreated rapidly before his splash wall could be destroyed, knowing that he had picked the wrong battle.

However, he didn't seem to be content with cutting his losses so easily. Instead of swimming back within the safe embrace of his teammates' lineup, he slithered around the tower to a spot he had already inked, and he climbed up the side of the mighty cylinder to shoot down at Aurora and Ophelia from a better angle. It was an unusually aggressive move for him, and as he flopped forward at the apex of his climb, he became the first combatant in the arena to claim the tower for his team.

Eight spotted him against the sky like a sore thumb, though, and within a second of his arrival there, she dispatched him instantly. The sound of her E-Liter atop the grating thundered across Aurora's lane as the compressed ink shot it released nailed the Splatling guy perfectly. He went down in spectacular fashion, showering both the top of the tower and the adjacent ramps in sheets of magenta ink. The crowd reacted excitedly to the opening splat, though it wasn't yet clear whether their uproarious feedback was positive or negative.

"It is clear." She declared to Ophelia. "Climb it now."

"Cool, just keep me covered!" Ophelia replied from behind her friend. She promptly submerged in the ink and swam the short distance to the tower, using the trail left by the E-Liter to ascend to its peak. In the meantime, Eight kept her crosshair where it had been, prepared to shoot down any inklings that got the same idea.

The shaded octo was greeted with a sprawling pool of Eight's turf at the top of the tower, thanks to the splat that had just occurred there. It didn't seem to her like anyone was going to try following in the Splatling guy's footsteps, so when she emerged from the ink in the most focal location of the arena, she immediately got to work. She first got the barrel of her Hydra Splatling spinning in the few seconds it took her to walk to the tower's opposite ledge. Then, when she got close enough to peer down upon the boys' lane and spot Bella fighting a losing battle, she released the trigger and discharged a catastrophic rain of ink at the .96 Gal and the Dynamo Roller, who were both too slow to notice the attack against them. The .96 Gal barely had time to toss a sprinkler up at her before succumbing to her barrage, but aside from that, neither of them were able to put up a fight. The sprinkler was easily destroyed with a few stray shots, and just like that, the girls had control of both lanes. More intense reactions came from the crowd as Bella cleaned up the mess and took the second zone, giving full map control to the octo girls. Their score began increasing rapidly, with a KO victory waiting for them if they could hold the zones, uninterrupted, for sixty seconds.

"Good shit, 'Lia!" Bella called up to her from below. "You really saved me from that pinch!"

Ophelia smiled, satisfied with her and Eight's collaboration. "All in a day's work! Now, Eight, come join me up here before those guys come back. We can cook these clowns in less than a minute if we stay vigilant. Has anyone seen their Squiffer yet?"

Bella and Eight both admitted to the contrary, as did Aurora. While Aurora hadn't yet seen Midas since starting the battle, her thoughts never deviated from him. Every moment that passed, she stayed constantly on edge, expecting his smoking hot figure to emerge from any splotch of blue ink that entered her sight. She heavily doubted her ability to fight against him if he were to appear, for reasons reminiscent of her last such experience at Snapper Canal. His mere presence was tough enough on her mind and body while resting, but in battle, he was her _kryptonite_.

She absently continued to cover more turf in her lane as she pondered this, building gradually towards her Tenta Missiles while there weren't any enemies to oppose her. Then, as she was beginning to reach the end of the side lane back to her spawn, it happened. By pure coincidence, considering what had been on her mind, she noticed a blue laser closing onto her chest from an unknown direction. Her thoughts shattered, and her panic response took over.

"Girls, _girls_! I found him, I think he's over—"

It happened while Eight was climbing the tower to meet with Ophelia. By the time any of them could turn and address her call, however, she had already fallen mercy to him again. She emitted a weak exclamation when the shot hit her, and the splash of blue ink that resulted from her demise caked the surrounding surfaces, including part of the ramp leading to the top of the tower. One by one, the inkling boys were respawning at their platform and preparing to super-jump to their stealthy Squiffer, and meanwhile, the girls were now one defender short. Ophelia and Eight frantically scanned Aurora's lane in search of the missing assailant, knowing that the entire group of boys was going to be spilling from his location at any moment. They needed to buy some time.

The only one in the arena who had inked enough turf to earn their first special weapon was Bella. Bella's special was an Ink Jet, a devastating combination of back-mounted jetpack and oversized bazooka. It was her favorite feature of the Enperry Dualies. Her aim with it was impeccable, and every time it coughed out its last drop and sent her flying into the air before landing back in the ink, she felt an adrenaline rush that was nothing short of addicting. No weapon was worth using to her if it didn't come with an Ink Jet.

Once she realized that Aurora had been splatted on the other side of the tower, she inked her way up its side and deployed the Jet at the highest elevation she could achieve, ensuring that her field of vision encompassed half the arena before exposing herself. Her transition from ground to sky was met with more applause from the audience, but it wasn't until the violent exchange afterward that their reactions reached their peak intensity.

First, Bella strafed towards the ramp on the right, where Aurora's slip-up had been, as soon as she noticed an expanse of blue ink growing around the corner. The inkling boys were obviously returning from that location, having jumped to their one surviving teammate, and she was determined to stop their resurgence before they could retake the zones. Midas, Aurora's two-time assassin, was at the front of his team's new attacking point. They noticed each other at the same time.

"Come here, you sneaky bastard! Have a taste of what this feels like!" Bella exclaimed through her wicked smile. She fired off her first ink blast, which rocketed through the air and exploded right where Midas was standing.

Midas was quick with his squid form, though, and he dodged the blast effortlessly by slithering to the side and emerging just out of Bella's sight, behind the cover that was nearby. Bella quickly fired off another blast, and then another, all while hovering a strategic path towards their safe spot. She did not plan to yield until she saw the detonation of at least one inkling. After all, even just one splat would even the tides until Aurora's return.

Suddenly, however, Bella was caught off guard when Midas leapt back out at her from around the corner with a charge stored in his Squiffer. He had built it up in the brief moment he was behind cover, and with its crippling delay now mitigated, he flicked his aim up at her from below and released the trigger, ending her ambitious push prematurely. Blue ink rained down upon the halfpipe after her jetpack thudded onto the ground. With her out of the way, he and the rest of his hidden team began rapidly swimming forward to close the point gap that had been opened in the girls' favor.

Ophelia and Eight saw the direness of their situation. At first, they considered super-jumping back to their spawn platform to preserve themselves over allowing their deaths to contribute to the boys' territory, but their minds changed when Eight gained a tactical triumph over Midas. The agile Squiffer's only mistake was his decision to lead his team's push back out to the zones…for when Eight saw his ripples in the ink, she reacted almost robotically with her aim. From atop the tower, at too far a distance for Midas to challenge her, she fired off another colossal shot from the E-Liter and pinned him while he was still swimming through his turf, turning his small, blueish figure into a giant stain of pink ink. It was a shot of justice on her part, after his guileful antics had resulted in the splatting of half her team. His swift elimination was enough to keep the two of them fighting with renewed confidence, even while their odds at defending the zones were stacked well against their favor.

Meanwhile, Aurora had respawned by then, and the desperation that was slowly building within her compelled her to super-jump to her friends on top of the tower for a faster resurgence. A marker appeared next to Ophelia and Eight as she morphed into her octo form, indicating the spot at which she would be landing. The defenders upped the ante when they saw it, knowing that her survival would depend on their support until she could regain her bearings and begin shooting. They continued to ink as much as they could off the sides of the tower, hoping to restrict the boys' movement while their influence on the center of the arena began to spread out.

Ophelia tried to throw an auto bomb at a blue ink splotch that seemed to be coming from the .96 Gal, but she was stopped by the lack of ink in her tank. She instinctively submerged in the ink to refill as soon as she noticed, leaving Eight to weather their containment breach for just a few brief moments. Unfortunately, those few moments were undercut by a ruthless ambush by none other than…the Splatling guy. Unbeknownst to the girls trying tirelessly to defend the zones from the edges of the tower, the Splatling guy had snuck around to the girls' side of the structure after Midas's slip-up, inked over their pink trail with a blue one of his own, and scaled the surface behind them without being detected. They didn't last another second after he reached the top, once he got his barrel spinning again, and Aurora was immediately forced to suffer the same fate as soon as she landed next to him on the tower. She didn't even have the time to chuck a suction bomb at her feet before his onslaught of firepower tore through her, leaving only him atop the blue-coated tower, laughing arrogantly at his triple-splat.

"A _Hydra Splatling_ on top of a charger perch? And you losers said _we_ were the ones with the lack of balls!" He scoffed.

The inklings capped both zones very shortly after that, halting the octo girls' score at fifty-seven points remaining. It was not a bad opening streak, by any means, but getting kicked off the zones never came with a satisfying feeling. They now had to push their way back into control, and they had to do it completely from scratch…a task often seen as the most difficult of any splat zone battle. In the end, none of them had survived the inkling boys' first resurgence. And that was about to come with a price.

Bella had already respawned since the massacre. While waiting for her friends to appear back at the spawn platform, she made use of her time by scouting the territory nearby, inking everything in sight to build her way towards another Ink Jet. She knew she wouldn't stand a chance pushing against them alone, and the rest of her team wouldn't stand a chance without at least one special weapon to boost their upcoming attempt. The girls had spread _a lot_ of pink throughout the arena during their control, so it was likely that the boys were going to have some specials of their own waiting for them when they returned.

It only took a couple seconds. Before she knew it, a pair of wispy, pink essences floated down into the respawn platform behind her, and like magic, Ophelia and Eight emerged from the ink therein like nothing had happened. A third essence scurried through the air right after them, merging in the ink next to them and forming into Aurora, who looked a little…frazzled, to say the least. The group was back together again, after the tides had turned against them.

That was, at least, until Aurora decided to sink into the ink and take off towards the zones without waiting to touch base with the others.

"Wait, Aurora, hold up!" Bella shouted at her. "Don't leave us behind again!"

"There's no time! They're going to take the lead!" Aurora cried back. She staunchly kept swimming after giving that answer, leaving her friends in the dust.

Eight was the first to start swimming after her, and once she did, Bella and Ophelia were not far behind. If one of them was going to throw themselves into the mosh pit, they all had to, or they were never going to make any progress. They were somewhat confused by their friend's sudden need to throw herself recklessly at the enemies, though…when they thought about it…that _did_ seem to be what Aurora did best. Clearly, something must've been motivating her. Perhaps she just really wanted to reclaim her honor, they figured.

The center of the arena was crisply visible to them as they approached in a single-file line, with Aurora leading the charge. Even from a distance, the state of the arena was no mystery to them. The boys had converged upon the hotspot of the battlefield, holding various positions among the sea of blue ink that was now covering everything. The Splatling guy was the one holding the tower, and even as the girls were still getting there, he could be seen distributing gallons of ink around the arena from the height advantage he enjoyed.

Aurora's victory was in jeopardy as long as the boys were in control, and she felt irrepressibly obsessed with turning that fact around. All chances of her performing with a strategic mindset were gone already, despite them only losing control to the boys a single time. As she slithered rapidly towards the lane she had previously been watching, she prepared to blitzkrieg her way through the blue turf…and her opponents…with all the blind, emotional strength she could muster. Her friends tried to keep up with her, but they simply couldn't match her determination when her engines got running. And now, after _twice_ getting pushed away from her prize, they were certainly running hard.

Just as the girls reached the ledge from which they'd be mounting their resurgence, an unknown projectile came flying at them from somewhere to their left. It landed right next to Ophelia, causing her to reflexively flinch sideways in the ink. Instead of exploding on her, however, the object instantly enveloped the girls in a mysterious, blue aura, revealing their locations to the inkling boys through all surfaces. It was a point sensor, and judging from their lack of certainty about where it came from, they assumed it belonged to Midas. Already, they seemed to be plagued with a _serious_ disadvantage.

"Shit…should we retreat?" Ophelia asked skittishly upon emerging from their ink. With all four of them now stripped of their ability to hide from the opponents, she did not find an immediate push to be worth the effort.

"No! We _have_ to get them off the zones!" Aurora hollered in reply, surprising her friends with her sudden defiance. She hurled a suction bomb in the direction of the closest zone, without aiming first, and took off in a frenzy towards the hostile turf.

Bella swam forward a couple feet and attempted to grab her friend, but she did not react quickly enough. "Aurora, slow down! This isn't like rainmaker! You can't cap the zones by yourself!"

Her desperate warning was met with a cold shoulder. Therefore, she and the others had no choice but to watch hopelessly as Aurora's crazed maneuver took a predictable turn. Their friend dropped into the valley from the ledge around the same time her suction bomb exploded, and she began wildly shooting everything around her in a vain attempt to cap the zone and reveal opponents that may have been hiding in it. The aura from the point sensor was still showing off her location, though, and the inkling defenders knew how to take advantage of that with unforgiving efficiency. The .96 Gal emerged from a pool of his ink on the other side of the lane and began shooting at her from a distance, causing puddles of restrictive turf to land by her feet. She tried to defend herself by shooting him back, but the range of her Splattershot was pitifully outclassed by that of his weapon, ensuring that none of her shots landed anywhere near his location. While she was doing that, the Splatling guy stepped up to the edge of the tower overlooking her position and proceeded to fire down at her himself. Before long, with her movement choked by the overpowering amounts of blue ink around her, Aurora fell victim to the coordinated defense without drawing a sweat from her opponents. Her own body became the bomb that ultimately painted the zone blue again, as it had been just seconds prior.

Bella closed her eyes and shook her head, disappointed with Aurora's latest failed display of showmanship. Whatever was motivating her recklessness this time, it was going to be her and her friends' undoing. Someone needed to talk to her about that at some point.

First, though, they had to deal with the situation her foolishness had given them. The girls' positions were still being broadcast from the point sensor, and they were now missing Aurora again. Their only option was to retreat and wait for her to respawn. However, the inkling boys were not going to let them escape that easily. Right as they were beginning to turn around, the Dynamo Roller deployed his sinister Sting Ray, a pressurized beam with the ability to fire through solid surfaces, from somewhere else in the arena. The sound of the Ray produced an immediate survival response from Aurora's friends, which was to scatter in three different directions and swim as evasively as possible.

Escaping would've been a manageable task under normal circumstances, but the girls were not, in fact, under normal circumstances. The point sensor aura still clinging to their bodies gave the Dynamo Roller a perfect visual of their locations from the other side of the arena, ensuring that their scrambled attempts at avoidance were utterly useless. Ophelia's swim speed was limited by her heavy weapon, so when the beam converged on her first, it eviscerated her within seconds. It then started to sweep to the side and focus on Eight, who struggled against the deadly vector for a bit longer than Ophelia. Regardless of her efforts, however, her E-Liter made her too slow as well, and she succumbed to the relentless force of the Ray's penetrative ink blast. Bella was next, but her lightweight prowess and chaotic patterns of movement were enough to evade the torrential beam until it shrank and dissipated. Immediately thereafter, the aura around her also vanished.

The damage done to the girls' progress was becoming extensive. While the boys had managed to retake the arena and cap the zones after just one resurgence attempt, Aurora and her friends had failed in theirs…after taking too much time to initiate it in the first place. Therefore, around the same time Aurora, Eight, and Ophelia respawned to join Bella for another try, the boys' score surpassed their own, making them the new leaders. The octos' chances of victory were dependent on how rapid and decisive their next move would be.

Aurora was focused on rapidity, at least, but her mindless pushes were not exactly decisive. The second she appeared back on the respawn platform, she sunk into the ink and darted forward again, her mind locked on taking the objectives without any sort of planning. No matter how many times they would splat her, she was going to continue getting back up and rushing at them until the moment the buzzer sounded.

The thing was…Bella was anticipating her this time. When Aurora breezed in front of her during her frantic journey back to the zones, she stowed her dualies, bent over quickly, and snatched her bespectacled friend by her motor tentacles, gripping firmly onto them with each hand to prevent her from swimming any farther. Aurora was startled by the sudden whiplash, and she began resisting by wriggling feverishly in her friend's grasp. Despite her efforts, though, Bella managed to pull her right out of the ink and hold her in the air at arm's length, letting her dangle upside down by her appendages. Aurora didn't like being seen in her octo form, so when she glanced up and saw Bella holding her prisoner, she writhed even harder.

"No use trying to break free, Aurora. This isn't the first time I've held someone like this." Bella said sternly. "You need to stop rushing past us and let us fight this battle together. We won't stand a chance if you keep trying to do it all yourself. Understand?" She waited a moment for her friend to answer, but then she remembered that Aurora couldn't respond while she was in her octo form. So, she improvised. "Flop towards me if you understand."

Aurora did not flop in any direction, but rather, she expressed her opinion a little more bluntly. When Bella seemed to have her guard down, she swung herself the other way so that her appendages were directed at her face. She then produced a sharp contraction and ejected a spurt of ink into Bella's eyes, causing her to flinch backwards and pinch her eyes shut.

"_Ack_, son of a bitch!" She exclaimed as she brought her hands to her face, dropping Aurora in the process. As soon as Aurora was submerged back in her turf, she resumed swimming towards the zones.

A moment later, Eight and Ophelia swam up to Bella from the respawn platform. Ophelia looked confused, having only partially seen the event unfold.

"What just happened? Did Aurora take off without us again?" She asked.

"Fuck yeah, she did!" Bella replied irritably. She reoriented herself after finally getting the slimy fluid out of her eyes. "She won't fight normally! I don't know what's gotten into her!"

Eight spoke up suddenly, giving a reply that neither of them saw coming. "I will join her."

"You'll what?" Bella retorted. She watched with skepticism as Eight submerged and departed hastily for the zones, stopping only briefly to answer her friend from a distance away.

"We must join her! It is the only way!" Eight reiterated, using a voice that was only slightly above her usual quiet tone. Bella and Ophelia barely heard her, but upon seeing the second of their friends scurry off towards the enemies, they reluctantly followed suit.

They pretty much only had time for that final push, anyway. If they failed again, the boys were almost certainly going to KO them.

On that note, Aurora reached the ledge within a couple seconds, with Eight slithering close behind her. Her plan, or lack thereof, rather, was to dissuade the Splatling guy atop the tower from shooting down at her by tossing her suction bomb upwards, hoping it would land next to him and force him to jump off the edge. Unfortunately, her execution was once again sloppy, resulting in her explosive projectile landing near the far edge of the tower instead of the center. She then dropped into the valley to try capping the zone as before. By landing her suction bomb inaccurately, though, she unwittingly drove the Splatling guy towards the edge overlooking her side. Before she could finish clearing out the blue ink in her lane, he aimed over the side and began spinning up his barrel again.

Luckily, Eight was watching. She had approached the ledge with her attention fixed on the tower's summit, expecting the Splatling guy to peek from there when Aurora got close. When she saw her prediction come true, she emerged at her current location and built a charge up against the side of his head, releasing it just in time for his weapon to begin shooting. Aurora heard the sound of her friend's shot, and she felt the droplets of pink ink from the Splatling guy's death land in her hair, but she didn't realize that her life had just been saved. She was too busy acting on the goal that was completely consuming her mind.

Normally, Eight was a passive fighter that preferred to give value to her team by picking off targets from a distance. However, she also wanted to help her team win…for Aurora's sake, if no one else's. The only way that could happen, with Aurora acting so uncontrollable, was for the rest of them to act uncontrollable with her. Careful strategies took too much time, and if a member of the team wasn't following them, what was the point? The way Eight figured, only persistent, team-wide unity was the key to victory.

After sniping the Splatling guy off the tower, Eight got to work following in Aurora's footsteps. Using the trail left by her E-Liter shot, she rushed forward and rapidly scaled the tower, ignoring the potential risk of getting splatted by one of the three inkling boys still roaming the arena. Protecting Aurora was her top priority, so once she emerged and built up another shot in her weapon, she slithered to the edge overlooking Aurora's lane and peered down steadily with her laser. A hidden ink mine, left by the Dynamo Roller to protect the Splatling guy, detonated on her as she did this, dousing her in hostile ink and revealing her location a second time. She survived the explosion and continued to keep her vigilant watch despite the damage she had taken.

Down below, Aurora finally halted the boys' advancing score by capping the first zone with her Splattershot ink. It was only a minor feat, but it still bought some more time for her team. She then turned her aim back upwards when she started taking fire from the .96 Gal again, who was careful about keeping his distance advantage over her. Even so, Aurora refused to give up. She pushed forward as much as she could against his shots, hoping to clear him out before his powerful weapon could do the same to her.

Eight had a clear visual of the exchange from her perch. She knew, as well as any other cephalopod with experience on the battlefield, that Aurora didn't have a prayer of surviving a push like that, directly into the line of fire of a .96 Gal, whose range and damage put her wimpy Kensa Splattershot to shame. Only a few weapons could contend with a .96 Gal in such conditions, for that matter. Thankfully, she was holding one of them, and without hesitation, she built up a charge with it and used it to obliterate her friend's opponent before he could send her back to the respawn platform. After that, as far as she and Aurora could tell, their lane was clear of enemies.

Meanwhile, Bella and Ophelia banked a left upon reaching the ledge, their sights focused on the zone in the boys' lane. Ophelia had a healthy amount of cover to utilize from that side, and the range of her Hydra was sure to allow her some flexibility with her risk. She got right to spinning up her barrel the moment she emerged in her ideal spot, but when Bella emerged next to her, she did not immediately push forward.

"How are we doing this? You cover from back here while I head in?" She queried.

"I don't know about you, Bella, but I'm just gonna start shooting when I see an inkling." Ophelia replied candidly. "Just do what you did with your Ink Jet earlier. Go by instinct, not by planning!"

It took Bella quite a bit of time to find her bearings after the hard splat she had taken from Midas earlier. She always presented herself as a free-flowing spirit that loved to take life by each stroke of her tentacles, but whenever hardships stared her in the face, she needed to feel in control of everything. Yesterday's rainmaker battle at the canal had been little more than a fun exercise for her, in which the outcome of her efforts did not affect her enjoyment. This time, though, her and her friends' honor was hanging in the balance. She wanted the inkling boys to shut up and fuck off with every fiber of her being, and because of that frustration, she tended to take her team's battle tactics too seriously.

"Um…right. Got it." She murmured.

Ophelia held her position with the Hydra Splatling while Bella reluctantly pressed forward with her dualies, using a curling bomb to paint a convenient trail to the zone. Eight had even transitioned to the side of the tower overlooking their region after eliminating the competition on Aurora's side, and Aurora herself was quickly inking her way there as well. As Bella surged forward to begin capping the second zone and setting their team's score back on track, the rest of her team was converging on said zone to provide maximum support.

The boys' defense was left in the hands of Midas and the Dynamo Roller, at least until their teammates could return to the front lines. Midas was nowhere to be seen again, of course, so rather, the pressure fell entirely on the latter. He emerged from the ledge on their side, as he had done the last time Bella approached his zone, and he took a defiant stance against her when the ink started firing from her dualies. Before he could finish winding up his giant weapon for a flick, however, Aurora swam up behind him and clocked him in the back with her Splattershot, marking her first splat in the entire battle. Bella expressed her approval with a light grin, but Aurora didn't return the favor.

"Nice splat, Aurora. Your timing was perfect." She acknowledged.

Aurora ignored her friendly remark. "Where's Midas?"

"…Who?"

"_Midas_! I already told you who he was! Where is he?"

Bella, who was trying to relax and open her mind up after her tense encounter with Aurora at the respawn platform earlier, was taken aback by her bluntness. Granted, she _had_ been the one to grab her shy friend by the tentacles and hold her against her will for a few seconds, so she understood if Aurora was still kind of salty about that. That's what she _assumed_ was going on, at least.

"Oh, the Squiffer? Yeah, uh…good question. I haven't seen him since he fucked up my Ink Jet earlier." She confessed.

Without another word, Aurora submerged in the ink next to her and began swimming away from the zone, towards the halfpipe on the left side of the arena. It was the symmetric equivalent of the halfpipe in which Midas had hidden during their first team-wipe, but it was the one leading towards the inkling boys' spawn, not the other way around. Some blue ink was still visible around that corner, leading Aurora to believe that she'd find Midas there. Bella capped the second zone in the meantime, which caused the girls' score to begin counting down again. They were only down by twenty-two points to the inkling boys after taking the zones back from them, so once they overcame their small penalty, they'd only be about fifteen seconds away from reclaiming the lead. Aurora was determined to keep them from losing the zones again, and if that meant facing Midas directly to prevent his team from jumping to him a second time, then so be it.

* * *

She emerged by the corner when she reached the end of her turf and immediately began inking every drop of blue in her sight. Since she knew she wouldn't be able to spot Midas hiding among the turf in front of her, she decided to simply rid the halfpipe of it altogether. The time to play passively had ended for her. Whether he liked it or not, she was going to savor that damn inkling's juicy lips if it was the last thing she'd ever do.

Luckily for her, she had predicted correctly. Within seconds of turning the corner, she ran into his hiding spot by covering over it with an ink shot on her way by, forcing him to emerge and defend himself. Aurora reacted joltingly to his appearance after seeing his figure rise out of the ink, having failed to expect him from that particular location. Her head turned quickly to the side, and she reflexively tossed a suction bomb in his direction.

Midas dodged the projectile with little to no effort. Before it could stick to the wall behind him and explode, he jumped a few feet to the side, where he still had some ink to maneuver in, and he turned to face Aurora. Aurora prepared to bite back her hormones and fight him with every ounce of willpower she could scrape together. However, before she could squeeze the trigger on her Splattershot, something unusual happened. Midas lowered his Squiffer, and…for the first time ever…he spoke to her.

"Just who are you, anyway?" He asked plainly.

His voice. Oh cod, his _voice_. Aurora had never heard it before, and all she could think was…_wow_. He sounded even better than in her dream. All of a sudden, her psychotic maelstrom of goal-driven ink-flinging came to a screeching halt. Her unplanned meeting with him was about to go very differently than she had expected.

Her hearts started skipping beats again. A tingle crept up her back. "Wh…What?"

"Who are you?" He repeated. "I know you're the octo chick from yesterday, but like…who are you _really_?"

At that point, Aurora lowered her weapon as well. She kept trying to make eye contact with her crush, but now that he was engaged in direct conversation with her, she couldn't do so without looking away each time. The closest thing on which she could get her eyes to stay focused was his Squiffer.

"You mean…you…you don't know? Your friends didn't…tell you?" She stuttered sheepishly, reaching up with her free hand to start playing with one of her hair curls.

"My friends told me to look out for 'the pit-dweller with the geeky glasses.'" He explained, caring little for his accidental use of the anti-octoling slur. "They told me my 'sanity was at stake' if we didn't win this battle. What the hell am I supposed to make of that? I'm assuming they weren't talking about your Hydra Splatling chick."

Aurora ignored his use of the slur. Rather, she focused on how hot she thought it was that he kept calling her and her friends "chicks." Though…she didn't know how her friends would've felt about it. It wasn't exactly the most respectful term.

She continued stroking her hair curl while struggling to speak concisely. Hearing him talk to her made it _considerably_ more difficult to resist the feelings rushing back into her. "Yes…my glasses are the geeky ones. M…My name's Aurora."

"…Okay." He replied blandly. "Do I…know you from somewhere? Any explanation for that weird show you put on for me back at the battle tower?"

Aurora blushed _extremely_ hard when he mentioned that. This whole time, she had been assuming that he already knew everything. She wasn't prepared to have to _explain_ the terms of the battle to him, nor the fact that she secretly wanted him to mount her like a bull shark. She juggled a few different ways to implicitly answer his question, but nothing clever came to mind. The response she _did_ end up giving was not exactly that subtle, though.

"Listen, do…do you…think I'm cute?"

"Do I _what_? What do you mea…" He paused suddenly. As his expression shifted to convey his understanding, so did his stance. His hands dropped to his sides, and he glanced away from her awkwardly. "…Oh. Um…uhh…cool. How nice. This is about the Splatfest, then, I'm assuming?"

"Sooorta…" She murmured. She couldn't stop stroking her hair. She felt like it probably looked annoying to him. "…I was hoping we could…I d'know…go for a drink first? Then the Splatfest the day after?"

"You _are_ aware of how many stares I would get if I'm seen with you, right?" He prompted, looking somewhat off tilt. "Octolings aren't viewed as very fresh in my social sphere, you know."

"I can be fresh! I promise!" She exclaimed suddenly, making undivided eye contact with him for the first time since their encounter. Her face felt so overheated…she figured her blush must've made her entire head look the same color as her hair.

"I don't know, octo. You're trying to cross some strange boundaries here." He stated frankly. "Octolings aren't supposed to date inklings."

Aurora felt something rise in her gut. A certain…fire. It was there every time she heard that phrase, and every time, it got stronger. Perhaps it was some kind of defiance. Or a gentle rage. She didn't know. All she knew was that the city's status quo was a bullshit waste of everyone's time. She wanted him. She _needed_ to feel his intimate touch. And he was going to be hers. She'd like to _see_ them try to stop her.

"Oh yeah? Well…if you're too afraid to cross those boundaries with me, then…" She flashed him her version of a seductive glare, and she aimed her Splattershot at him. "…you got about thirty seconds to go cap those zones."

She then squeezed the trigger, and Midas's shocked face was gone within a second. Ink from his explosion splattered across her face and her clothes while blanketing the blue turf around her in pink. Damn…did it feel good. Before retreating back to the center of the arena with her friends, Aurora threw a suction bomb onto the ground, where his death had been, to deal with the super-jump marker that had appeared there just prior. She wasn't going to let his team recover. They weren't going to like her very much later, but that wasn't important now. She was doing it for him.

* * *

By the time Aurora returned to the tower at the center of the arena, her team had an iron grip on a vast amount of territory. No one was able to get near the two valleys from the inklings' main drop-off, thanks to the all-encompassing range of Eight's E-Liter atop the tower. Their side lane was shot as well, with Aurora's suction bomb having terminated one of Midas's teammates right after he went down himself. The boys' options for reaching the front-lines were pretty much nonexistent, especially with Bella and Ophelia having moved up to their drop-off to snuff out their breathing room. They were left with little territory, little time to regroup, and little time to resurge. On top of that, all the girls except Aurora had their specials ready to deploy. The tides of battle were not only back on the girls' side, they were _overwhelmingly_ signaling the girls' victory, to the point where the boys would've been better off just cutting their losses and accepting the defeat.

Regardless, they pushed on until the bitter end. The Splatling guy and the .96 Gal were the only remaining attackers after Aurora's ruthless double-execution in their side lane, and their efforts to approach the zones from their drop-off were met with unmatchable force by Bella and Ophelia on the front-lines. Ophelia once again asserted the dominance of the Hydra Splatling by obliterating the Splatling guy's splash wall without having to get within throwing distance of it. Then, right after it was destroyed, Bella rolled up with her dualies and laid waste to both of them. It was utterly impossible for them to contend with her at such close range. With the segmented timing of their respawns, between Aurora's and Bella's kills, coupled with the lack of time they had to stop the girls' rapidly climbing score, the boys were suddenly facing an unfathomably steep uphill battle. And that wasn't even considering the Splashdown, Ink Jet, and Ink Storm that the girls were hiding up their sleeves.

They weren't even able to push forward again until they had their entire team together. That delay alone was enough to close out the girls' penalty time. Before they even had the group stability to mount a final resurgence attempt, the girls took the lead back from them and carried on towards the KO. The boys gave everything in their last push, even going as far as to split their push in two different directions to undermine their opponents' unwavering foothold on the main drop-off. Unfortunately for them, the girls' special weapons were not going to stand for it. Eight's Ink Storm over the main drop-off kept the Splatling guy buttered up for an easy elimination by Aurora. Ophelia climbed to the top of the tower before using her Splashdown off its edge, smearing the walls below with the remains of the Dynamo Roller and the .96 Gal. Then, lastly, Bella deployed her Ink Jet and sought out Midas one more time, exacting her vengeance against him in a satisfyingly violent manner after finding him stuck in a corner by his side lane.

They never recovered. There was only time for one more resurgence after that, and the boys could not find an angle that wasn't already under watch from a better position by one of the girls. Unable to anchor themselves effectively, and without the time to wrench control of the zones from the inside like they had done before, the inklings' goose was officially cooked. In the next few seconds, the girls' remaining score counted down past ten…then seven…then five…three…one…zero.

Cheering. _Prodigious_ amounts of cheering. It was the first thing the girls heard upon achieving their victory on Blackbelly Skatepark. Aurora realized just then, in fact, that she had completely forgotten about the crowd's presence around the arena during the heat of their battle. All the ambient noise accompanying their pivotal moments, like their clean sweep of the inkling boys during their successful resurgence, their retaking of the zones, and their usage of specials to defend those zones, had fallen into the background while it was all going on. Now that they had attained their knockout victory, the audience's excitement and approval filled the moment with exhilarating energy. The girls wondered how many octolings were in that crowd, screaming and applauding their fellow underdogs as if this splat zone battle had been the decider of a great race war.

Despite the apparent gusto in the crowd's cheering, their ovation was completely overshadowed by Aurora, who reacted to the victory with an insatiable display of triumph and joy. She jumped around in her spot by the drop-off, shouting her pleasures to the clouds above.

"Yes! Yes yes yes yes _YES_! _Veemo_!" She cried exuberantly.

Bella and Ophelia watched her with delight. Eight also saw her emotional outpouring from the tower behind her, but her face did not reflect the spirit of the occasion. While Aurora made her ecstasy known to the entire venue, Eight stood in the shade, reactionless…taking the win as nothing more than the completion of another chore. Not the last one they'd be dealing with, either.

A satisfied smile appeared on Bella's face during Aurora's episode. "Damn, Aurora, I've never seen you react to a win like this. Looked like you were really pushing for this one!"

"I agree!" Ophelia chuckled. "Glad to see you feeling better. Pity I left the seaweed back at home, 'cause now seems like it'd be the best time for it!"

Within the next minute, shortly after Judd appeared through the crowd to officiate the octo girls' superiority and generate more hype in the audience, the inkling boys approached the center of the arena. They seemed to have removed their ink tanks and left them back at the respawn platform before arriving. None of them looked very pleased, especially the Splatling guy. They didn't look angry, though, just…inconvenienced.

"How do you like us now, assholes?" Bella jeered at them through her smug grin. "Looks like _you're_ the ones facing the embarrassment today!"

"Yeah, cocky of you to talk such a big game and then get your tentacles plucked by a gang of lowly octolings!" Ophelia added.

The Splatling guy stared at each of them for a moment without saying anything. The girls tried to deduce something about his opinion on the matter by reading his expression, but they couldn't quite figure him out. His feelings about the loss seemed…mixed.

"You octos are _reeeally_ patting yourselves on the back right now, aren't you?" He snarled. "You think you're some hot shit?"

"Hot shit, indeed, kiddos! Hot shit that you'd better start respecting!" Bella ordered with an authoritative flair. "You squids _lost_, and the conditions of the rematch say you have to take back your bullshit from yesterday. We're equals now!"

There was a moment of silence after her declaration, until suddenly, the Splatling guy started to laugh, along with the .96 Gal and the Dynamo Roller. Bella and Ophelia became greatly confused by it, as evidenced by the disappearance of their smiles and the raising of their eyebrows. Why were they laughing? What the hell was so funny about getting their smug rug of supremacy pulled out from under them?

"You're fucking adorable, you know that?" The Splatling guy cackled. "Those weren't the conditions of the rematch at all!"

Wait a minute. What did he just say? Bella and Ophelia answered to that twist by staring at the boys in dumbfounded silence. Their inflated body language vanished in an instant, as did the cocky resolve that they had built up in the wake of their epic triumph. The longer they stared, the more the inkling boys began to get back on their high horses.

"Those…_weren't_ the conditions? What the hell are you talking about?" Bella stammered.

The boys didn't answer verbally. Instead, they all stood back and allowed Midas to step forward from their lineup and face the befuddled octo girls alone. They all studied him with the same shaken looks on their faces, including Eight from the tower in the background, as he walked up to Aurora and gave her another quiet once-over. Aurora looked back at him with a display of true, unbridled admiration in her eyes, the likes of which Bella and Ophelia caught from their spots next to her. Their gazes shifted rapidly between their lifelong, lovestruck friend…and the mysterious inkling boy with the Squiffer. Neither of them had the slightest clue what to think.

He spoke with a level head, whisking Aurora's hearts away with his every word. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Meet me in the first floor lobby of Albacore Hotel before lunch, and…" He paused. "…try to look fresh, please."

"I'll be there." She stated in reply, flashing him a suggestive wink. "I'll be _radiating_ freshness for you."

Midas simply nodded once, then he turned back around and began walking away. The rest of the inklings proceeded to follow him off the battlefield. Before the Splatling guy joined them, though, he stopped and addressed the octo girls one more time.

"Try to keep Four-Eyes under control. I'd better not see her pit-dweller lips all over Midas at the Splatfest, because if I do, you'll be dealing with _all of us_. Write it down."

He picked up his Heavy Splatling and, after giving Aurora an _intensely_ threatening glare, proceeded with his departure. His intimidation did nothing to quench her spirits, though. She was so over the moon about her scored date with Midas that she wasn't fully aware of her situation. Her friends' shocked stares fell on her after his disappearance, growing more resentful with each passing moment. It took Aurora another several seconds to notice the state they were in, and when she did, her smile faded quickly.

None of them shared her excitement. Aurora glanced at Bella, then at Ophelia, and finally Eight, realizing with each of their faces that reality was beginning to set in for them. Everything from the last twenty-four hours was officially out in the open now.

Uh oh.


	5. Chapter 5: The Makeover

The girls could not wait long after the inkling boys marched off the battlefield before doing so themselves. It was already proving to be a bustling day for Inkopolis, and as such, the venues were constantly flowing with new sets of battlers. Blackbelly Skatepark was expected to host splat zone battles for at least the next couple hours, including a few high-level league matches between some of the mode's most formidable teams. Aurora and her friends didn't know exactly when those league matches were going to take place, but they decided to play it safe and avoid holding up a coveted showdown by standing in the middle of the arena.

Upon exiting the ink-coated terrain near their former spawn platform and finding a comfortable place to stand, the girls were repeatedly approached by nearby members from the crowd, each of which congratulated them on their victory. Some just came to swoon, some came to thank the girls for winning them a large gambling sum, and others came to boo them or spit at them. Only a negligible portion of the crowd came to antagonize them like that, though, and the girls simply assumed that the ones that did were associated with the inkling boys somehow. Therefore, brushing off their unkind behavior took minimal effort.

In general, neither Aurora nor her friends took much notice of the bystanders. A more significant matter was dangling amongst them in the wake of their clutch triumph. It was a matter that put Aurora at the center of her friends' scrutiny again, a place she had been in many times before, and a place from which she always desperately sought escape.

"What the hell was that earlier? What did you tell those boys yesterday?" Bella asked demandingly. She seemed considerably upset about the turn of events.

Aurora held her Splattershot close to her body. She shuffled uncomfortably. "I…I…uhh…"

Ophelia cut her off with additional input. "You _did_ shake that Splatling guy's hand, didn't you? Inklings take their battle agreements very seriously, but you have to shake hands to make them official."

"I…I _did_ shake his hand…"

"Then why are we standing here like this? Why did those cretins _still_ give us the boot after losing our rematch?" Bella enquired with a disgruntled huff. "Did you let them trick you into accepting false terms or something?"

"No…"

"And why did their Squiffer dude invite you to Albacore Hotel with him? Have you talked to him before?" Ophelia chimed.

Aurora tightened her grip on her Splattershot, squeezing the handle until it nearly dented the plastic. She shot her gaze directly at her friends, her cheeks boiling with embarrassment, and replied to them with a sudden outburst.

"His name is _Midas_! I already told both of you that!" She shouted defensively. "He's going to be my date for the Splatfest!"

Their eyes widened suddenly. The pair of octos stopped questioning Aurora for a moment and just stared at her…unsure of how to address that information. They glanced at each other a few times, as well. As shocking as her statement was to them, it certainly answered a few of the questions that had arisen for them during the last twenty-four hours. Only Eight managed to keep her level gaze, having known about Aurora's escapades since their inception back in the kiosk line.

Ophelia, on the other hand, needed a minute to process it. "Wait, so…that Squiffer is your _boyfriend_?"

"His name is Midas, not 'that Squiffer!'" Aurora corrected her again.

"Fine, 'Midas,' whatever." Ophelia scoffed apathetically. "He's your boyfriend, though? Since when?"

"Well, since…um…never. I only just met him at the canal yesterday…" She mumbled sheepishly. As much as she _really_ wanted to call him her boyfriend, she couldn't technically do so until he made the choice for himself. She hoped that decision would happen at Albacore in a couple days.

Ophelia seemed confused by everything, but Bella was having no trouble putting the pieces together. With each passing second of Aurora's time under the spotlight, the ponytailed octo's expression grew more and more dissatisfied. Her body language also seemed to communicate her escalating irritation.

"Okay, okay, hold up." She declared. Her eyes locked onto Aurora, causing a typical dissolution of her friend's confidence. "Those guys _hate_ octolings, so there's no way that this 'Midas' guy would've _actually_ invited you on a date unless he had no choice. Did you…_force him_ to go on a date with you…y'know…as our rematch condition? Instead of asking for our freshness back?"

Aurora didn't answer her. Instead, she pathetically dodged the question by turning from her friend to look at the ground, where she then weathered the next few seconds by kicking pebbles. Bella had pretty much struck the nail on its head, but Aurora wasn't willing to make the final confession verbally. She figured the two of them would interpret the silence as a 'yes,' which they seemed to do after another brief moment of staring. Their faces seemed to reflect the exact instant her assumption was confirmed.

Ophelia slumped against her Hydra Splatling when the realization hit her. "…Oh. So that's what this was about. Seems like you got a little, uh…_hooked_ on Midas, then?"

Aurora still couldn't form a response for at least another few seconds. When she finally did, she glanced up shamefully at her friends with the pose of a guilty kindergartener. "…I'm sorry…"

"I'm sure you are, Aurora, but that doesn't change the boat we're in now!" Bella blurted, throwing her hands up suddenly to show off her exasperation. "You do this kind of stuff to us a lot! It's starting to get really annoying!"

"Okay, easy does it…" Ophelia began.

Bella cut her off, though. "No, I feel like this needs to be mentioned." She glared at Aurora again, prompting her to divert her culpable gaze back at the ground. "You always go into this kind of unstoppable _freak_ mode whenever you want something, and you don't seem to care who you step on in order to get it! You don't even seem to consider your friends!"

"It's not like that! I do consider you!" Aurora tried to defend. Her voice was weak.

"No, Aurora, there's no _way_ you're considering us when you do stuff like this. If you were, you wouldn't have decided to trick us into fighting for your chance to _suck off_ an inkling during the Splatfest!" Bella accused. "You would've at least told us the _truth_ about it before roping us into it!"

"Bella, chill out! You're being a little tough on her!" Ophelia urged, hoping to assert a level of authority by shifting her stance upright. Arguing against Bella's insatiably strong resolve was impossible, though, and she knew it.

"Maybe I'll chill out when Aurora promises to stop using us as pawns in her crazy schemes!" She turned to Aurora yet again after snapping back at Ophelia, but Aurora's face was already lost behind her Splattershot. "If it weren't for your stupid games, we'd all be back at the apartment with Ula right now, smoking seaweed and forgetting that those bratty inkling boys even existed! Octolings _probably_ shouldn't be flopping around with inklings anyway!"

Finally, Eight stepped forward from the shadows behind her friends and stood herself between Bella and Aurora. She stowed her E-Liter on her back and assumed a powerful, wide stature that stopped Bella's rant in its tracks. With flared, serious eyes and a cold expression that could belittle a kraken, she faced Bella.

"Enough. Leave Aurora alone. She said she is sorry." She commanded.

Bella took a step back, surprised by the mellow octo's staunch interruption. She met Eight's gaze without hesitation, though, her resolve initially unwavering. "You're defending her? Aren't you upset about having done all this for nothing? About being lied to, no less?"

Eight did not shift her stance. She did not even blink. "Aurora did not lie to me. I already knew about Midas."

Bella was confused by that at first, but it wasn't long before she remembered the confrontation in the kiosk line. Eight had been standing right next to Aurora in the line during the entire ordeal, so she had clearly witnessed Aurora's suggestion to the Splatling guy in-person. That still left a burning question in her mind, though, which Ophelia was quick to ask on her behalf.

"You already knew Aurora's reason for instigating the battle, and yet…you still decided to fight it with us?" She queried curiously. "…Why?"

For that, Eight didn't seem to have a clear answer. She did a good job at maintaining her stance, allowing her to hold onto her dominance in the situation, but it was obvious that she lacked a prepared response. She looked over at Ophelia upon receiving the question, where her eyes stayed for several moments thereafter. Aurora, grateful for Eight's benevolence, lowered her weapon and glanced up at her friend from behind. All eyes were on her for this one.

"…I will always fight for Aurora. She is my friend." She finally declared.

Her words struck a very certain chord with Aurora, though…she couldn't figure out what that chord was. Up front, she became quite shy by them, retracting her face back into her Splattershot to avoid catching her friends' gaze when they were spoken. Deep down, however, she felt rather…flattered. Of course, it wasn't the first time one of her friends had stood up for her, especially in the last twenty-four hours, but it was definitely the first time she could remember being placed on a pedestal like that. Perhaps…underneath the ever-concealing layer of silence that perpetually blanketed her true self…Eight held Aurora in very high regard.

Unfortunately, the same could not currently be said from Bella and Ophelia. While Ophelia was at least mindful of Aurora's fragile self-esteem, Bella's grievances were a little too strong for her to consider sparing her friend's feelings. She certainly wasn't the vengeful type, though, luckily. She simply didn't know what to do about Aurora's unquenchable affinity for getting herself and her friends into trouble. Eight was technically taking the high road by choosing to support her closest companion, even going as far as to ditch the others by joining her Splatfest team. Despite that, Bella just wasn't sure if she could trust Aurora to keep the whole group's interests in mind when dealing with the inkling bullies.

"But…she's _our_ friend too, Eight! Don't you think it's at least _somewhat_ irksome that she won't fight for you in return? She dragged us all into this so she could fight for herself! She didn't even join our Splatfest team, and you validated her for that, too! I thought we agreed to _always_ have each other's backs when we moved to this city!" Bella spouted.

Eight shook her head. Even while facing Bella and her intimidating flair, she continued to talk back with a stunningly calm and monotone voice. "I did not move here with you. I have always lived here. I admire Aurora's passion, so I will fight for her."

"And what about the rest of us? Do you just…not care? Do you even consider us your friends at all?" Bella rebutted.

"I do."

"Well, we have passion too, so what does Aurora have that we don't?"

Eight suddenly fell completely silent again, leaving Bella's question dangling in the air. Bella and Ophelia expected her to answer the question swiftly, as she had been doing with Bella's other questions, despite knowing that such promptness from Eight only came once in a century. The usually secretive octo had clearly been disturbed enough by Aurora's trial-by-fire to step further into the spotlight than she ever had before. Though she continued to hold her stance in front of Bella, it seemed like her point had been made, so she returned to her typical silence without any sort of warning. The pair waited impatiently for Eight's final explanation, but it never came.

When it became clear that Eight wasn't going to answer them, Ophelia stood up from her Splatling and took a step in Aurora's direction. Aurora glanced at her, as did Eight while retaining her position in front of Bella.

"Aurora…listen to me. As you can probably see, Bella and I are feeling a little shaken by all of this." She began, trying very deliberately to keep Aurora from feeling despised at the boot of Bella's scolding. "And you know…when Ula finds out about it herself, she's not going to be as nice about it as we've been. I'm afraid things are going to be a little complicated for a few days."

"Wha…What do you mean? What are you suggesting?" Aurora asked her diffidently.

Ophelia sighed, unsure of how to word her upcoming question. "Do you think you might be able to stay with Eight in her apartment for a couple nights? At least until the Splatfest? Eight seems to support you no matter what, and I'm worried that having you home with us will cause fights. At least…the way things are now."

"So, you're…_banishing_ me? What about always watching each other's backs?"

"How exactly have _you_ been watching _our_ backs in all of this, huh? Think about it!" Bella spat. "Besides, it's not like we're leaving you to shrivel up in the street. Eight even has a nicer place than we do!"

"She's right, Aurora." Ophelia added. "As you can tell, Bella's not very happy right now, and I know Ula's going to be worse when she finds out about it. We're just asking that you give us some time to cool off before coming back to our cramped space with us. It's in everyone's best interest."

Aurora was in no position to argue. By knowing about her deception in the process of setting up the battle, her crimes against her friends were technically deliberate, and as such, she deserved whatever punishment they wanted to give her. On that note, spending a few nights with Eight wasn't actually much of a punishment at all. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it began to sound like a blessing. She was going to be sheltered from both Ula's wrath _and_ the tight space of their tiny apartment, all while getting to hang out with Eight and prepare for her big day with Midas. Not only that, she'd get to avoid sleeping in the sleeping bag another night. Maybe her friends _were_ looking out for her, even after everything she had done to them. What else could she say?

"…Okay. I…I guess I'll see you girls at the Splatfest, then." She muttered contritely. "I left my Splatfest shirt over there, though, so…um…I'll have to come back to get that at some point."

"We'll bring your t-shirt to you on Splatfest night. Don't worry about it." Bella responded with a dismissive hand-wave. She didn't even look at Aurora directly when she said it.

"…Alright. Thanks."

Then, just as the girls were about to depart from the skatepark and go their separate ways, a slick-looking octoling boy approached Bella from behind and tapped her on the shoulder. He carried a current-year model skateboard in his right, gloved hand, accompanying his look with his sporty tank top and the black seahorse shoes on his feet. A few tentacles of his hair stuck out from underneath his special-forces beret. Bella saw these features when she turned around. He looked amazing, as even Aurora and Ophelia had to admit. Ophelia, hoping to look more presentable, even took to adjusting her ponytail as he drew near. He was an eight-out-of-ten, at _least_.

"Hey there, beautiful." He greeted her with a confident smirk. "Been shreddin' around the park here with my pals, and I couldn't help but notice the beating you gave those inkling kids down there in the arena. That was some _sexy_ splattin' you pulled off."

Having snagged another admirer with her own apparently attractive features, Bella jumped right into his flirting game with a returned grin. "Ooh, ain't you a feisty one? I suppose you aren't just here to congratulate us on the win, then, huh, big boy?"

"You're pretty smart too, aren't you? My pal thinks you're out of my league, but I think you and I got some synergy. I'm _really_ diggin' your curves." He bluntly stated, eyeing Bella's figure from head to toe. She giggled and adjusted her stance slightly, arching her hips toward him and puffing out her chest to give him a cleaner view of the important stuff. Aurora and Eight watched silently as he seemed to eat the display right up.

Aurora was quick to notice the fact that Bella wasn't rejecting the octoling right away, as she normally did with the ones that approached her. Instead, she willingly allowed herself to play into his little ritual, returning his compliments with her own witty banter, and further inflating his interest by giving him exclusive angles from which to peek at her eyepopping physique. Clearly, she was interested in him as well, and her friends couldn't blame her. Aurora and the others began to wonder if this octoling skater-boy was going to become Bella's lucky date to the Splatfest.

"Mmm, you like what you see? Are these the curves you're looking to bring to the Splatfest with you?" She teased, flashing him a seductive glare that outclassed all of Aurora's seductive attempts towards Midas. Somehow, Bella was a _master_ at driving the boys crazy.

"Oh, you _know_ it, babe." He answered desirously. "In fact, I'd like to take those curves a _lot farther_ than just the Splatfest. You dig?"

While keeping her slightly lidded, provocative eyes trained directly on his, Bella decided to take her victim's libido to the next level. She reached her hand forward and gently grabbed ahold of her admirer's skateboard before pulling it slowly out of his grasp. He allowed her to do so without any resistance, as his attention was still focused on her bodily features. She then set the item on the ground next to herself and reached forward again, this time with both hands, to grab the octoling's wrists and pull them towards her, which forced him to stumble forward a few steps. Once she had his hands by the sides of her head, one on each side, she laid them to rest on her own shoulders.

"Why don't you tell me what you think of them, then? Go on, don't be shy." She purred.

Enthralled with the opportunity she was giving him, the skater dude began gingerly stroking his hands down the length of Bella's hips, feeling the details in his palms through the layers that separated them from her inky flesh. He shuddered when he got to the outward bend of her thighs, bringing his arms around the back of her waist to caress the smooth mounds of her ass with the same level of care as that of a mother caressing the cheek of her newborn hatchling. Aurora and Ophelia watched this happen with deep intrigue visible on their faces, wondering just how much farther their friend would be willing to take the charade before reclaiming her personal space. Eight, on the other hand, observed the spectacle with nothing but pure indifference.

After giving him a few more seconds to explore her body in this manner, Bella gave the skater guy one last treat. She reached around her waist and grabbed his wrists again, prompting him to stop rubbing her hindquarters and let his hands fall limp. He understood the rules of the game, in that betraying her trust would soil his chances of getting to later feel her ass _without_ her shorts in the way. But then, to his delightful surprise, she took his hands and placed them directly on her breasts, after which she encouraged him to give them a few quick squeezes. He eagerly obliged, of course, snickering excitedly in response to the exhilarating sensation. Aurora put a hand to her mouth as she watched from a few feet away.

Bella continued to look him in the eye while he happily played with her boobs through the fabric of her jersey. She let out a long breath. "So…how do you like them?"

"They're fuckin' amazing…"

She grinned. "That's what I like to hear. In that case, then…" She grabbed his wrists one more time and pulled them away from herself, guiding them back down to his sides before letting go and returning to her previous stance. The skater boy, disappointed that his free trial had ended, promptly bent over and retrieved his skateboard from the ground as Bella cut to the chase. "…I think this is the part where you ask me to the Splatfest."

"You know it!" He repeated jubilantly. "You wanna fight for Team Looks with me?"

"Hmm…I'm not sure." Bella answered, putting a finger to her chin. "Do you think you could do something for me first?"

"Yes, yes, anything!" He blurted in response.

She smirked at him. "Go down there, into the arena, and win a splat zone battle for me, please."

The skater boy's exuberant smile suddenly disappeared. He stared blankly at her for a moment, unsure of how to respond to her unexpected request. The whole time, her smirk remained on her face, working further to confuse him after the abrupt conclusion of her playful foreplay.

"Uhh…come again? I'm not sure I understand."

"You got to watch my friends and I kick those inklings' asses earlier, so now I want to see _you_ do it. Go get your lil' skater buddies together and show me how well you splat!" She ordered cheekily. "If you win, then I'll go to the Splatfest with you. I'll let you do whatever you want to me."

"O…_Only_ if I win?" He stammered.

She nodded. "Of course! I'm veeeery picky with my mates, you see. You're _definitely_ hot enough, but you also gotta show me that you can put up a fight. Do that…and I'm yours."

The skater boy stood in place for a moment while he tried to process his love interest's words. His dominance in the situation was pretty much gone at that point, having been swiped right out from under him by Bella's cunning tease. It also didn't help that her friends were standing around them. As the girls all awaited his response, the pressure he felt began to grow. He had just been given a taste of his prize, but now he was expected to earn it for real. If anything, he felt like she was testing him on his masculinity.

"A…Alright then. You're on. I'll go tell my pals." He declared uneasily.

He then turned around and took off in a flash, heading straight to his group of friends to rally them up for a battle. Bella continued to stare at him for a moment while he took his leave. Her friends watched as well, though it wasn't long before one of them, namely Ophelia, felt the need to comment on what had just transpired.

"Wow…you took that a lot farther than I ever could."

Bella shrugged carelessly. "Meh, maybe a little." She then turned around and addressed Ophelia with more excitement. "Did you see that guy, though? That was the hottest piece of ass I've seen since the Splatfest was announced!"

"Yeah, and he was totally into you, too!" Ophelia replied. "But…why didn't you accept his proposal?"

"Hey, I still might! I just wanna…you know…see if he's actually worth his weight in talent. I definitely don't wanna date a pushover, even if he _is_ candy for the eyes!" She mentioned with a wink.

"Just remember to keep an open mind. If you keep being too picky with your admirers, you may wind up going to the Splatfest single!" Ophelia reminded her.

Bella simply chuckled. "Oh, believe me, he's not gonna be the last of 'em. I still got two days before the Splatfest, and these octos have been turning up a dime-a-dozen. I'm not worried."

During all of that, Aurora and Eight had been standing on the sidelines without saying a word. Aurora didn't originally plan to stick around for as long as she did after essentially being exiled by Bella and Ophelia, but she had decided to wait a bit longer after the skater dude showed up. She was greatly interested in the exchange they had just shared, especially in Bella's bold choice to let the stranger…_touch her_ the way that he had. By lowering her barriers and letting the guy enjoy her body for a few moments, Bella had basically turned him into putty in her hands. Aurora recalled seeing his giddy reaction to holding her concealed breasts in his palms, and she wondered just how malleable he would've become if Bella had allowed him to go further. Their bodies seemed to hold more power over the boys than she originally thought, provided they knew how to use them, like Bella. Aurora was curious about this discovery. Quite curious, in fact.

"Okay, well…I think Eight and I are going to head out now." She informed, her voice quiet amidst her whirlpooling thoughts.

"Alright then. It's looking like Bella and I are gonna stay here for a while. Gonna see how that skater dude's battle goes." Ophelia responded. "Sorry about everything, Aurora."

"Pfft, I'm not." Bella snapped. "See you at the Splatfest, Aurora. Maybe by then you'll know what it means to look out for your friends."

Aurora didn't say anything. Without looking at her friends, nor showing any kind of reaction to Bella's remark, the ostracized octo turned around and walked off, her Kensa Splattershot still poised in her two hands. Eight departed at exactly the same time, choosing to walk beside her companion instead of behind her. The gargantuan E-Liter attached to her back made her look more like Aurora's bodyguard than her trusted friend, but she didn't mind at all. If anything, she was grateful to still have Eight by her side. Eight always seemed to be there for her. She knew Eight would protect her during her couple days away from the others.

As they walked, eventually reaching the streets outside the skatepark, Aurora glanced over at her pal.

"Hey, um…Eight?" She waited for Eight to turn before continuing. "…Thank you."

Eight nodded once. Even then, she still had yet to smile. "Friends stick together."

* * *

The two girls walked along the street with each other for quite some time, not knowing where they planned to go. The day was still as clear and lively as any other, spurring a healthy population of squids and octos to spend their time traversing the sidewalks around them. Many of their fellow city-goers were also boasting weapons on their backs, so the girls' E-Liter and Splattershot blended in well amongst the fray. Neither of them talked during their trip, of course.

Since the moment she and her friends had won the splat zone battle earlier, Aurora knew exactly how she wanted to spend her afternoon. Having earned herself a date for tomorrow, the wishful octo hoped to visit a shopping center, preferably a mall, before sundown to buy herself a fresh ensemble that would win Midas over. For some reason, though, she didn't bother to tell Eight about it right away. The tranquility of their first hour or so together, strolling through the blocks of inner-Inkopolis among the ambient sounds of other denizens doing the same, made the time completely worth it, even if they didn't spend it with a conversation. Sometimes…all they needed was a change of pace.

Blackbelly Skatepark was nestled within one of the richer districts of the city, with oodles of restaurants, arcades, and other public hangouts dotting its perimeter. Aurora and Eight still found themselves surrounded by such amenities, even after walking a couple miles from the park itself. In addition, the district was home to hundreds, if not thousands, of inklings, and not nearly as many octolings. Eight, of course, knew this as if it were common knowledge, but even so, the fact could easily be inferred by just looking around at all the bystanders. The battle tower had certainly taken them far away from the square, that was for sure.

Eventually, Aurora started yearning to kick her afternoon plans into gear. On any other given day, she would've had no issue with basking in the city's peaceful atmosphere next to Eight until they both dropped from exhaustion. Today, however, there was an obvious urgency. An urgency, of course…to prepare herself for her ultimate score. Midas, her glorious, chosen alpha, wanted her to look fresh for him, and fresh she would look, indeed. She didn't want to arrive at any department stores later and wind up not having enough time to browse. So, as the girls' walk began to take them near an infamous country club with inkling-only access, Aurora stopped and gave her friend the question.

"Hey, Eight?"

Eight stopped as well, turning shortly thereafter to look at Aurora. She didn't say anything in reply, so Aurora interpreted her gaze as an acknowledgement.

She continued. "So…I was just thinking, since I got my date tomorrow, and we didn't really have any plans for today…would you like to go shopping for a bit? Maybe…get some new clothes for the Splatfest?"

"…I would love to." Eight answered immediately. Her fast response gave Aurora quite a surprise, as it was against her nature to do so.

"Veemo! I'm glad!" Aurora beamed. Her cheeks were practically gushing with happy vibes. "I can't wait to see you try on some new stuff. That leather stuff you wear just looks so…uncomfortable."

Eight looked down at herself and shrugged. "It is okay to me. But…if you would like me to wear something different, I will do it."

"No, no, you don't have to do that." Aurora urged. "You can wear whatever you want. I'm…sorry."

"I want to wear something that you like. If you think something looks good, I will wear it." Eight repeated declaratively.

Aurora wasn't used to having her opinion venerated like that. Rather, she was used to her friends making decisions by themselves, and only themselves, unless they felt divided about a certain choice. Ironically, Eight presented herself to Aurora as the most independent of their entire friend group, and yet…she seemed to prefer Aurora's opinion on clothes over her own. On top of that, Eight's voice remained so devoid of any kind of emotion that Aurora couldn't make heads or tails of the octo's deeper reasoning. Was it that she trusted Aurora's fashion sense over her own? Did she value her friendship with Aurora enough to exalt her opinions without having to hear them? Was she just being nice? Or…did she just not have a taste in anything?

Aurora wished she knew a way to ask her friend this stuff without sounding too direct.

"Well…maybe when we get there and have a chance to look around, you'll find something that you love." She stated with a friendly grin.

"Okay." Eight replied. She did not return the grin, of course.

Regardless, Aurora kept her smile, and she began awkwardly tapping her toes against the sidewalk. She didn't know why, but Eight's happiness and well-being seemed to be growing into a major goal for her. Maybe she was just grateful that Eight had taken her under her wing after Bella and the others had turned their cheeks. Even still, though, as much as she cherished and appreciated Bella, Ula, and Ophelia, there was something about Eight that gave her…comfort. She felt like Eight understood her better than her other friends. She also felt like Eight took her words to heart more than the others. Whenever she spent time alone with Eight, including their time spent in the kiosk line the day before, she felt like her troubles were easier to share. Aurora flourished in Eight's company, and she wanted to return the favor.

"So, how about The Reef? I was originally thinking about going to Arowana Mall, but the news this morning said that The Reef was going to be hosting turf wars until dinnertime." Aurora explained. "Maybe we could have dinner while we're there and watch a few of them?"

She waited nervously for Eight to answer, but luckily, her response was once again swift. The expressionless octo reacted to Aurora's proposal with the same gusto as her first one, using the same words as well.

"I would love to. It sounds fun."

Aurora's grin grew wider. She clapped her hands together with glee. "You're gonna love it, I just know you will!"

* * *

On top of the good food and the turf wars, The Reef had another convenience that Aurora hadn't even mentioned. Compared to Eight's apartment, relative to Inkopolis Square, the popular shopping center was located directly on the other side of town, putting the square itself between the two destinations. Therefore, Aurora and Eight were able to super-jump to the square to drop off their weapons in storage before heading out on their shopping spree. Weapons were allowed at The Reef, of course, but the two girls didn't feel like dragging them around the entire afternoon, and they certainly didn't want to take the long subway trip back to their district to drop them off at home first. Once they decided to head back to Eight's apartment later that day, they'd be able to grab their weapons back from the square on their way to the metro station. Easy peasy.

Aurora offered Eight the honors. Naturally, Eight had no problem doing whatever Aurora proposed, so she reacted to her invitation by simply morphing into her octo form and rocketing off toward the square, saying nothing in the process. Aurora did the same herself shortly thereafter. In a matter of seconds, the duo touched down in the square, where they hastily made their way to Sheldon's shop to check in their weapons for later. The street in front of the storefronts was still occupied by dozens of chatty inklings and octolings, almost all of them in line for the Splatfest kiosk. The girls went about their way, dodging through the bystanders as they passed. No one paid them any mind.

The errand only took a minute or so, as it always did. When they were done, and their backs were free of the extra weight, they set their sights on their main destination for the afternoon. The Reef was among Inkopolis's most prominent hangouts, located just a couple miles from Wahoo World, and seconded only by the square itself in daily visitors. For this reason, it obviously had its own jump pad, of which the girls promptly took advantage after stepping back out onto the sidewalk. Aurora had only ever been to The Reef to participate in battles with her friends, so she hadn't gotten to visit any of the shops yet, but she knew, even with her limited experience, how crowded the venue tended to be. As she jetted through the air in her octo form next to Eight, she thought about all the fresh styles she'd be able to copy from the other shoppers.

Eight landed first, followed by Aurora a split second later. The landing point for visitors was within viewing distance of the fenced-off arena, so the first thing the girls saw upon stamping their feet into the cement was the sideline of a turf war that was currently in progress. The edges of the arena were lined with onlookers, all cheering wildly and pumping their fists in the air like the fate of the city depended on the battle's outcome, so the girls weren't able to see the combatants from their position. Likewise, they couldn't see the ink on the ground well enough to determine who was winning. They could, however, see ink shots and missiles flying through the air above the battlefield, and from that, they could tell that the skirmish was rather intense. They were curious to see how the next few battles would go, once they had a chance to settle down and observe from a nicer perch.

The Reef itself was nestled in a busy hotspot for the city, surrounded by high-rise structures and overcast by several suspended monorail tracks, on which railcars would occasionally zip past the crowds of shoppers below. Wahoo World's proximity to the consumerist utopia was marked clearly by its famous, giant Ferris-wheel, which loomed on the horizon just beyond the farthest visible building. It was often said that The Reef was _so_ endowed with the urban density of its district…that it never got darker at night. According to the rumors, the abundant light of its shops and its surrounding environment was enough to mimic sunlight throughout the area, even well after dusk. Whenever Aurora stepped foot in the place, she was always reminded of how extravagant inkling culture really was. Nothing in Octo Valley came close to matching the grandeur of Inkopolis.

Eight stood perfectly still on the landing point with her eyes fixed in the direction of the arena, until she noticed Aurora walking briskly in the other direction. She broke out of her trance and immediately started following her at that point, assuming her haste to be a result of her uncontrollable excitement. There were shops _all over_ The Reef, each of which contained dozens of potential options for new, fresh looks. Dinner and turf wars would have to come later, Eight figured. She couldn't blame Aurora for that.

"Where are we starting?" She asked Aurora dully.

Aurora didn't look at her when she answered, as her focus seemed to be centered on the buildings to their left and their right. "I want to get a nice bag to put my stuff in. So many inkling girls I've seen have really cute bags, and I just…I want to be fresh like them."

Eight glanced around the walkway at the bundles of inklings and octolings that were sharing the sunny day with them, observing their fashion senses as they passed. Once again, as with many areas of the city, there were _way_ more inklings walking the streets than octolings, making Aurora and Eight stand out a bit more than they desired. She noticed, though, true to Aurora's word, that at least nine out of every ten inkling girls in her sight were carrying bags of some kind. Some had purses that hung from either their wrists or their shoulders, some had tiny handbags that couldn't have held anything more than cellphones and a bit of money, and some had long-handled bags that slung around their bodies and dangled by their hips. Almost all of them were walking with a group of friends, and the ones that weren't were instead holding hands with an inkling boy. Eight had only begun to see them after Aurora's mention of them. They were apparently common enough among the population to blend in as subtle details.

Eight considered saying something about the phenomenon, but before she could, Aurora suddenly grabbed her by the wrist and began pulling her off their course, toward a shop that stood to their left about fifty feet ahead. She didn't interject, despite having her balance thrown off by the precipitous action.

"Ooh, ooh, over here! This looks like an accessory shop!" Aurora zealously announced, shortly after nearly causing Eight to faceplant into the ground. Eight simply went along with her friend's insatiable eagerness, feeling little of it herself, but still valuing the time they were sharing together in her own, secretive way.

The flashy building loomed over the pair of octos as Aurora led them towards it feverishly. She let go of Eight's wrist when she reached the double-door, just a handful of seconds after first spotting it in the first place. A full team of inkling girls inside the shop, having likely just finished a turf war over at the arena, seemed to be on their way out at the same time Aurora and Eight got to it, so when Aurora placed her hand on the handle and pulled the door open, she stood out of the way and granted them passage. Eight then took it upon herself to pull open the other door as well. One of the inkling girls smiled at them as she stepped through the entrance, but the other three seemed too absorbed in their conversation to acknowledge their selfless gesture. They all carried Kensa weapons on their backs, but not one of them was a Splattershot like Aurora's. More notably, though, they were all sporting a variety of new bags, bracelets, and earrings, among other things that the accessory shop seemed to sell. To Aurora and Eight, they looked…incredibly rich. Or perhaps they just had rich boyfriends.

Aurora slipped into the store the moment the group was gone, leaving Eight completely in the dust. Eight didn't pay it any mind, though. She herself walked calmly into the air-conditioned environment and drank in its selection after Aurora had already disappeared into the rows of items like a young octopus being let loose in a toy shop on Squidmas Eve. Aside from the bags and assorted piercings that adorned the mannequins in the store's windows, the place also appeared to sell small wearables like bracelets, necklaces, and most prominently, shades. The entire right wall of the outlet was _covered_ with shades, almost to the point of obscuring the polished wood surface behind them. It was fascinating to see the sheer quantity of goods that could be fit in such a small space, and Eight wondered just how many of them, if any, Aurora was going to want to purchase.

Meanwhile, Aurora was deeply entranced by the arrays of bags available from the shelves on the left side of the store. They came in a booming selection of colors, as well as a number of different styles, but they all seemed to hail from just two designer brands, so their prices all fell within a similar range. Aurora noticed, as she ran her hand along the surface of each item, that the bags seemed to be comprised of soft velvet, with tightly sewn seams and an embroidered insignia on the more premium models. Most of them had a large flap over the top that secured with a single button on the side. The aspiring octo didn't care much about the function of the bags, as long as they matched the style of her inkling peers on the streets. She _needed_ to live up to the inklings' standard if she was going to seduce Midas. Whether the thing was easy to use or not…well, that didn't matter at all.

Aurora carefully inspected every single bag on all the shelves she could find, an action which took about half an hour all on its own. During that time, Eight joined her on that side of the store, where she proceeded to browse her own section of bags in passive silence. She flew completely under Aurora's nose while she shopped, thanks to Aurora's razor-sharp interest in finding the perfect look for herself. Eight expected that trend to continue in her friend through all the shops they were going to visit. She was okay with it, though. She understood Aurora's needs.

Interestingly enough, the bag that had grabbed Aurora's attention the most during her search was located on a shelf right next to the area Eight was browsing. After meticulously judging every single bag in the store's inventory, Aurora strolled right back to the bag that had caught her interest, causing Eight to glance over at her as she approached. Aurora smiled at her again, but she didn't smile back. Instead, she halted her own search while she watched Aurora pick up her favorite bag, sling it onto her shoulder, and step to the side to observe herself in a nearby mirror.

"I really like this one. It's not too bulky, but it's also not one of those miniature ones that the prude inklings carry." She explained to Eight while striking different poses in front of the mirror. She tried holding the bag at different arm-lengths, ranging from her shoulder down to her wrist. "I'd say the dark purple velvet even complements my hair!"

"You like that one?" Eight asked curiously.

"Yeah, I think this one's a keeper." Aurora answered happily. "There's _no way_ Midas won't think this is fresh."

Eight stared at the bag on Aurora's arm for another few seconds while she continued to flaunt it in front of the mirror. Before long, though, she turned her attention back to the stuff on the shelf, having nothing noteworthy to say about her friend's choice. She agreed that the dark purple coloration did wonders for Aurora's hair, and she personally found the bag to be a major improvement to her overall appeal as a fresh date for the Splatfest, but she couldn't speak on whether Midas would have the same opinion. Rather, as she resumed surveying her options for her _own_ stylish bag, Eight pondered the aspects of her look that her own desired mate would likely want to see the most. Unfortunately, despite being the first of her friends to settle in Inkopolis, she was _not_ a fashion expert.

"Aurora? …What bag should I get?" She asked innocently, without turning around.

She waited patiently for a few moments. However, she didn't seem to get a response, even after a handful of seconds had ticked by. A bit curious, the indecisive octo turned back to the mirror, only to find that Aurora wasn't standing there anymore. It seemed that she had moved on after finding the bag she liked, without Eight even noticing. She turned her gaze to the rest of the store upon seeing this, scanning thoroughly among the rows of shelves until she found her standing near the opposite wall, studying the shades that were hanging there. Eight merely shrugged and turned back to resume her decision-making. She could just make the choice on her own, she figured.

Over by the shades, Aurora didn't seem to notice that she had left Eight behind again. The deeper she got into shopping around the store, the less aware she became of the friend that had graciously gone on the trip with her. She'd catch back up with her later, of course, but right now, as with the bags…only the shades mattered to her. As her eyes drifted across the spread of hooks that displayed every style and color of shades imaginable, Aurora once again forgot that she was standing in a department store and _not_ on the roof of Albacore Hotel with Midas. Her surroundings became nonexistent in her head as she tried tirelessly to imagine herself in _every single item_ that was hanging from that wall, even though there were clearly too many to choose from.

The whole process took her about ten minutes. Each time a pair of shades caught her interest, she'd stand on her toes to retrieve them from the wall, pull her Full-Moon glasses off of her face, and replace them with the shades to see how she felt about them. Aurora was nearsighted, so she needed her Full-Moon glasses to see properly at a distance, but the effect on her vision was not drastic enough to concern her. In total, Aurora sampled about two dozen pairs before finding the ones she wanted to show Midas. When she finally walked away from the wall of shades on her way to the front counter, her Full-Moon glasses were in her left hand, and a pair of highly reflective, tinted shades were in front of her eyes, with a black frame and dark purple lenses, once again complementing her hair in a way that pleased her. With the shades on her face, and the velvet bag on her arm, she was now one step closer to achieving the look that would drive Midas crazy.

Eight was already waiting for her by the front counter when she finished her search. Without her usual glasses on, she couldn't see her friend in full detail until she reached the counter herself. Even before getting there, though, she was able to decipher the outline of a bag around the quiet octo's shoulder. It seemed to be of the same brand and material as her own bag, as well as the same dark color. However, instead of purple, Eight's bag was dark red, and it appeared to be the long-handled kind that hung down to her hip like a messenger bag. Aurora guessed that her friend's choice of color was to complement her magenta hair, just like she herself had done for her own lavender locks.

"Aww, that one looks so good on you!" She cooed.

She thought for sure that Eight was going to smile at that compliment, but she didn't. "Thank you. I am glad you think so."

"What do you think of the shades I found? Fresh enough for Midas?" She hummed playfully.

Eight simply stared at her. "…I think you look very fresh."

Aurora blushed shyly at Eight's remark, despite hearing it in her usual bland tone. After just an hour and a half or so of hanging out with Eight, she had almost completely forgotten about the mess from back at the skatepark. She was greatly emboldened by the chance she was getting to beautify herself for her date, alongside a friend that not only agreed with everything she did, but also took her struggles to heart. Her spirits remained lifted, perhaps the most they've been in weeks, as she removed her items and set them on the counter to be purchased. Eight then promptly did the same with her red velvet bag.

The cashier of the store was a jellyfish, so Aurora and Eight knew they wouldn't have to hold a conversation with him. He grabbed their items with one of his long, wavy appendages and slid them towards himself to be scanned, allowing the girls a moment to stand around while he tallied up the price. The number displayed on the register went up with each scan until, finally, Aurora and Eight knew how much their accessories were going to cost. Aurora's shades clocked in at a mere 350 coins, while each of their bags fetched a heftier sum of 6,000. Even with a higher total than Eight, Aurora knew she had the money to pay for her stuff.

Once the final price appeared on the display, the two octos reached into their pockets to retrieve their funds. It was at that moment that Aurora made a disheartening discovery. Both of her pockets were completely empty. She had forgotten her money back at the others' apartment.

When she noticed this, she gasped. "Aww carp, Eight…I didn't think I'd be going shopping today when I left home…"

"Did you forget your money?" Eight asked plainly, eliciting a slow, defeated nod from Aurora. She did not seem fazed by her friend's disappointment, though. "Do not worry. I can buy these for you."

Of course, that did the trick. Aurora's face lit up with hope as Eight extracted her money from her pocket. Instead of a vessel for carrying coins, however, the item she held up was a tiny, zip-up wallet, which looked incapable of storing anything thicker than a kelp cracker. Aurora stared at the item with curiosity, at least until Eight pulled her card out of it, at which point her confused expression turned into one of shock and amazement.

"Wait a minute…you have a _credit card_? A real credit card? I thought only rich inklings had those!"

Eight handed her card to the jellyfish for him to complete their transaction. She did not react visibly to Aurora's fascination. "Yes, I do."

"Where did you get it? And when?" Aurora pestered.

"I got it from a friend. Before you moved to Inkopolis."

"Wow…that's so cool. I never thought I'd get to be friends with an octo that has a credit card…"

Eight kept her gaze fixed on the jellyfish while he ran her card through the system, leaving Aurora's dumbfounded remarks dangling in the air. Aurora was the first of her friends to see her wielding such a status symbol, and she knew that there would be more secrets for her friend to discover in the coming days. Things that would most definitely seem impossible from an octo of her…seemingly simple nature. Therefore, she expected her to have many questions.

The thing was…she didn't feel comfortable answering any of them just yet. Not while they were out in public. And certainly not while Aurora's mind was still attached to Midas.

Luckily, though, Aurora didn't seem to dwell on it at all. The jellyfish finished processing her payment within a few seconds' time, and he handed back her credit card with a friendly wave from his free appendage. The girls waved back at him before scooping up their items and strolling away from the counter. Due to her excitement, Aurora consistently walked a few paces ahead of Eight, even going so far as to hold the door open for her on their way out of the accessory shop. Eight watched her place her Full-Moon glasses in her bag as she stepped past her into the afternoon's warm breeze, leaving her new tinted shades on her head to wear through the remainder of their trip. Apparently, looking fresh was suddenly more important to her than being able to see correctly.

As the duo took to the streets of The Reef once again, their new bags swaying from their shoulders for all their fellow denizens to see, Aurora remained difficult to hold down. With every step they took, her attention kept darting in all directions as she searched manically for the next shop that would catch her interest. She scarcely noticed Eight walking closely behind her the entire time, almost as if her presence was hardly more than an afterthought. Eight knew that her crazy scampering was merely a side effect of her frenzied attraction to Midas, but…it still concerned her a bit, nonetheless. The way she figured, if that loveless inkling were to ask Aurora to jump into a vat of saltwater, she'd probably do it.

She didn't have long to ponder this, though, as Aurora closed in on her next target within a mere minute or two of exiting the accessory shop. The Reef was as dense with shops as it was with visitors, after all, so their lack of time outside wasn't exactly surprising. Aurora pointed her finger at her next selection and announced it eagerly, barreling straight for it the moment thereafter without giving Eight much time to react. Groups of inklings walking in the other direction were forced to stop on a dime as she blurred past them, producing annoyed glares that wound up falling on Eight as she tried to keep up. On her way to the store's front entrance, well after Aurora had already thrown open the door and disappeared inside, she glanced up at the store's front sign and found it to be a shoe store. The fact was further evidenced by the store's windows, which displayed different styles of extravagant footwear on tilted pedestals. It all looked rather expensive, but Aurora didn't seem to pay attention to that fact before barging into the building.

Their experience inside the shoe shop was much the same as it was inside the accessory shop, but to a far greater extreme. The store was noticeably bigger on the inside, first of all, and the number of options it presented to its shoppers was practically second to none. Eight could smell rubber from hundreds of shoe soles as soon as she stepped through the door, and even _that_ pungent sensation couldn't compare to the vast sight of the items themselves. Every visible wall, even the back wall behind the counter, was lined with shoes, as well as the shelves that separated the aisles. The store's inventory was rather impressive, Eight had to admit. Just standing at the front entrance, having just walked inside, she could see all varieties of foot coverings, including hi-tops, lo-tops, basics, pull-ons, boots, dakroniks, flip-flops, sandals, pacers, and even a collection of secondhand ankle bracelets from Grizzco's exclusive payroll. Clearly, there was _nothing_ that the place didn't sell. And Aurora was not going to leave until she sampled everything inside at least once.

Her journey began, once again, on the left side of the store. Before Eight had even gotten the chance to follow her through the front doors, she sallied over to the furthest row of displays and began tearing into the first shoebox. Thoughts of Midas were pushing harder into her mind with each passing minute, and as they did, her goal-driven tendencies began to control her actions again. After all, Midas wanted her to look fresh for their date. Therefore, looking fresh became the new "goal" that would continue to infect her mind until she saw him at the hotel the next day. Her original intention of going to The Reef, which was to prepare for her date while also spending some personal time with Eight, quickly began to narrow the more she shopped.

Aurora rushed across every nook and cranny of the shoe store, inspecting all the specimens she could find, which consumed about an hour and a half of daylight. She skipped over shoes that were being sampled by other shoppers, as a gesture of courtesy, but as soon as they were done, she would always come back and look at them herself. Any shoe that went unnoticed had the potential to be fresher than her current top choice, and she absolutely could not allow herself to exit the store without the best possible option, so she simply made sure to check every pair that was in stock. Time was not a concern for her. Of course, it might've been for Eight, but…that fact wasn't really on her mind.

Eventually, after meticulously running her sights over more footwear items than one octo could ever hope to buy, Aurora found exactly what she was looking for. Her jittery adventure throughout the store came to an abrupt halt when her eyes settled on a unique-looking pedestal in front of the cashier's counter, the glint of which had forced her attention away from the aisle she had been pursuing. The shoes atop that pedestal were unlike anything she had ever seen in the city before. A curious expression grew on her face as she stared at them, and before she knew it, her legs were taking her in the direction of the pedestal without a second thought from her rapacious brain.

The shoes in question were a pair of special-edition high heels. The closer she got to their display, the more details she could make out. They appeared to be made of shiny, black leather that covered the whole foot, much like the armor and boots that Eight liked to wear, with zippers along the top that fastened them to the ankle. Each shoe's heel-cap was distinctly separated from the rest of its sole and protruded about three inches straight down. Along with the heel-cap, the sole of each heel was comprised of some sort of polished, metallic material, which also reminded her of Eight's boots. If she had to be honest, _everything_ about the pair of shoes seemed to share aspects with Eight's outfit, the only difference being in their fashion-oriented focus. While Eight's ensemble seemed to emphasize flexibility and sturdiness, the heels' elegant shape and style made them look like something an inkling stripper would wear. All that was missing was their brand, which Aurora couldn't find from checking the tag.

Her eyes sparkled with wonder as she took in the heels' features, and her mouth curled into a childish, desirous grin. She could only imagine what they looked like on her feet, since the sign in front of the store forbade shoppers from trying on display pieces. Not even the classiest inklings among The Reef's visitors were wearing heels like those, for if Aurora had ever come across such inklings, she would've remembered seeing them on their feet. They were enough to communicate sexiness and confidence in their wearer without the need for anything else, and if Midas were to see her wearing them, he'd surely be on top of her in _no time_. This, she knew. She _needed_ those heels.

She knelt down in front of the pedestal and let out a long, dreamy sigh. Just then, Eight walked up behind her with a shoebox under each arm. She looked down at Aurora, before the covetous octo could notice her presence, and caught a glimpse of the shoes she was admiring.

"Do you like those shoes?" She asked in her usual, robotic manner.

"Oh, Eight…they're perfect. Midas would _love_ me in these." Aurora answered with a flutter of her eyelids.

"How much do they cost?"

"Oh, right. Um…" She leaned forward on her knees and grabbed the shoes' tag, realizing that she had forgotten to check that important detail while looking for the brand. She struggled to read the tiny print without her glasses, but once she leaned in further and squinted her eyes, the font became easier to decipher. Once she saw it, she gasped in shock. "…_120,000 coins_?! Are you squiddin' me?"

Eight stood in silence as she was told the price, watching Aurora drop the tag and lower her head in defeat after reading it. Seeing the way in which the store had displayed the shoes, on a shiny pedestal directly in front of the cashier's counter, she kind of expected them to cost a fortune. After all, if the flashy heels hadn't made a single appearance on the streets of Inkopolis in the past, there had to be a reason for it, right? They had to be among the best of their kind. Or the newest, at the very least.

Realistically, Aurora did not need shoes like those. In fact, Eight found it better for her to stay away from them. They were way too expensive for her own good, since octolings in high social standings tended to clash with competitive inklings, especially those with a familiar superiority complex. On top of that, the shoes had a bit of an _erotic_ feel to them, and Eight worried that, by wearing them in public, Aurora would get swamped with unwanted advances from licentious individuals. She thought inwardly about these things while Aurora stared at the floor in front of them, her face cast over by a despondent expression. Eight hated seeing her like that, above all the concerns she had regarding the expensive heels. Therefore, she made the pivotal choice.

"I will buy these shoes for you. You deserve to be happy." She bluntly stated.

Aurora's head shot up, and she turned around quickly to face her friend. "Really? You will?"

Eight nodded once, knowing that her bill at the end of the month was not going to be pretty. "Yes, I will. They don't cost that much."

"Aww, Eight, thank you soooooo much! I don't even know what to say! Veemo!" Aurora squealed, jumping up from her kneeling position to grab Eight's shoulders and yank her into a hug. Eight dropped both shoeboxes as she was pulled tightly into her friend's embrace, but she wasn't complaining. Something about the sensation sent waves through her…waves she had never experienced before. Aurora was such a cute friend to have. It was strange to admit that her cuteness was enough to make her recklessness tolerable. Their other friends didn't know how lucky they were to have her in their group. Though Eight couldn't feel herself doing it, when she extended her empty arms to return Aurora's affectionate gesture, she grinned…ever so slightly.

Their moment ended when Aurora turned back around and scooped the heels off their pedestal, placing them on the floor in front of her. To Eight's surprise, instead of waiting to pay for them at the counter, the enraptured octo immediately kicked off her hi-tops and placed them in her bag before unzipping the fastener on each heel, sliding her feet into them, and securing them to her ankles. She figured the cashier was going to frown at them for defiling the ritzy shoes right there in the store, but since they were going to be paying for them on the spot, she didn't expect them to encounter any trouble. Aurora wobbled a bit as she stood back up, having never worn high heels before. They certainly made her a lot taller. In addition to beating Eight's height by an entire forehead, Aurora suddenly looked a lot more…_mature_. She was like an octoling queen, commanding a formidable stature that she knew would give the boys a run for their money.

Eight took a minute to admire how the heels looked on her friend, then she bent over and picked up the shoeboxes she had dropped. Once Aurora seemed to have her new stance figured out, Eight pulled the lid off both boxes and held them out for her to inspect.

"Which of these would look fresher on me?" She asked diligently.

Aurora glanced at the two pairs briefly, but she didn't give them more than a couple seconds of her attention. "It's up to you. You can wear whatever you think your Splatfest date will like the most!"

"…I want your opinion, though." She reiterated.

Aurora was caught off guard by Eight's insistence. She was happy to provide feedback for her, but she hadn't expected the eccentric octo to prefer another's tastes over her own. She looked back down at the two choices with a hint of uncertainty on her face. One of the boxes contained a pair of Musselforge flip-flops, and the other one bore a pair of glossy red power-stripes. The flip-flops looked much comfier than the power-stripes, and they were also a lot cheaper. However…Eight's question was not about comfort, and since she was apparently capable of paying for _anything_, the prices didn't seem relevant either.

"Well…if you really want my preference, the power-stripes look really nice. I think they'd look super fresh on you." She smiled kindly, trying not to seem imposing.

Eight nodded. "I see."

"Y…You don't have to get them, though! I'd rather you wear stuff that you like!" She urged.

"But I only like stuff that _you_ like. If you think something looks fresher on me, I will wear it." Eight repeated for the second time that day.

Aurora couldn't conjure a response to that. She couldn't figure out why Eight seemed to value her opinion so heavily. The way it looked to her, Eight's only criterion for good clothing items was what _she_, her crazed, socially awkward friend, thought about them. Sure, they were really good friends, but…Eight had to have _some_ kind of personal opinion, right? Did she completely lack a sense of fashion, relying entirely on her trusted pal to steer her away from dry-looking clothes? Or…did she really value Aurora's opinion for its own sake?

Right after making her declaration, Eight stepped away to return the box of flip-flops to the aisle in which she had found them. Aurora couldn't do much but stand there pridefully, in her new, sexy heels, until she got back. When she did, the two of them ventured to the cashier's counter and proceeded with their purchase. Aurora kept glancing over at Eight while she ran her card through the system, but she never glanced back. For an octo that was currently flushing away more money than her average kind made in a year, Eight's thoughts were still completely undecipherable. Aurora didn't know how to feel about it.

* * *

The sun was beginning to lean towards the western horizon by the time the girls transitioned to their final store. Across The Reef, crowds were gradually filtering out of the shops and into the restaurants as dinnertime drew near in the city. More and more visitors were appearing on the walkways with weapons on their backs, having likely come from the nearby arena to wind down and eat with their friends after their turf wars. Many of them took immediate notice of Aurora's new heels, though her awkward stumbling in them ensured that none of the wandering eyes were lustful.

Aurora's last target was a clothing shop, which was a little further up the path on the same side of the walkway as the shoe store. With less than two hours before The Reef would stop hosting turf wars, the girls knew that they had to make their time count if they wanted to spectate a few battles. Aurora was aware that their time crunch was her own fault, for if she had been a little more decisive in the previous two stores, they would've had more daylight to work with. On top of that, her new heels prevented her from rushing around the store as quickly as she'd like to, and even if she could, there was no way she would have time to sample everything in the clothing store. After all, unlike with shoes or accessories, trying on clothes required a _changing room_, and those had a way of…getting in the way. If she wanted to find the freshest option for Midas this time, she'd have to make some difficult choices.

The two girls stepped through the doors of the shop simultaneously, and almost right away, Aurora's hearts sank. For the first time since their arrival at The Reef, Eight began wandering through the aisles ahead of Aurora, since Aurora's legs refused to move after witnessing the extent of what was presented before them. The clothing store's selection was _unfathomably_ massive, putting the combined inventories of the previous two stores to shame. The place even had a second floor, atop which Aurora could barely see a row of changing rooms behind its additional shelves. Despite the blurriness of her vision, Aurora inferred the shapes of inklings and octolings walking in and out of the changing rooms in regular intervals, each carrying bags that were probably bulging with clothing items. Overall, the place was not a normal store. It was practically a _superstore_, the daunting scale of which kept Aurora glued to her spot on the foyer, unsure of how to even begin traversing its jungle of options.

All that mattered to the inundated octo was finding something that would excite Midas. Unfortunately, in a store that huge, with very little time to browse, she couldn't rely on trying everything in order to find the freshest outfit. She needed some way to narrow down her options, but…without any knowledge of Midas's preferences…doing so would prove to be impossible. Should she go for a stylish t-shirt and shorts? A dapper schoolgirl ensemble with a fluttering skirt, perhaps? Or maybe she could ditch pants entirely and wear a dress? How was she supposed to know where to begin?

While pondering that stressful question, something crossed Aurora's mind. In knowing that she had to seduce Midas during her date, Aurora suddenly remembered the moment after their splat zone battle earlier that afternoon, when Bella had done the exact same thing to the octo with the skateboard without having to think about it. Bella's natural affinity for attracting suitors seemed to know no bounds, and when she deliberately set her focus on molding a specific victim, the results were often quite explosive. Who needed to be fresh for freshness's sake…when cheating the system with feminine charm worked just as well, if not better? If anyone knew exactly what Aurora needed to get in Midas's shorts, it was Bella.

Aurora dawdled deeper into the store to stop herself from blocking the entrance, and she pulled her phone out of her bag. In the process of swiping through it to reach her contacts, she kept glancing ahead of her to make sure she didn't bump into anything. She tapped Bella's name in the list, opened a new conversation, and started typing out a message.

"Hi Bella. :) How r u doing?"

Aurora continued walking while she waited for her ponytailed friend to answer. She meandered all over the first floor, traversing some aisles several times, having nothing specific to search for on her way. The minutes slowly ticked by like that, with Aurora repeatedly sauntering past the same few shoppers with her face in her phone, waiting for a reply from Bella to appear on the screen. When none came through, even ten minutes later, she began to suspect that her annoyed companion was simply giving her the cold shoulder.

But then, just as she was considering putting her phone back in her bag, the object buzzed in her hand, and Bella's belated response appeared before Aurora's eyes.

"Do u need something?"

Aurora bit her lip. Bella's reply looked a bit impatient, so she tried to hold onto her attention by avoiding the question off the bat.

"What r u up to?"

"At home with Ula. Waiting for Lia to get back. Ula smoked all of our seaweed. :( "

"Oh no :( " Aurora stared at her phone uncomfortably while she tried to think of a better way to respond, but her brain fell flat as usual. "Is she ok?"

"She's passed out on the couch. Didn't even hear us come in."

Aurora couldn't say she expected a tangent like that, even though it made perfect sense from someone like Ula. She just hoped that Bella and Ophelia were planning to go easy on her for it. No one else in their friend group needed to feel guilty today.

With that, Aurora attempted to lead into the big question she wanted to ask.

"How did it go with the skater boy?"

Bella took longer than usual to reply. From the looks of it, she seemed to be backspacing a lot. "Rejected him. Turns out he and his buddies use INK BRUSHES. They got their asses whooped. :/ "

"Aww. :( He looked kind of good, too."

"R u kidding? He was fuckin' HOT." Her text was accompanied by several fire emojis. Aurora grinned at them slightly. "But I'm not dating an ink brush. Especially one that can't fight."

Bella was kind of a savage, Aurora thought. It was almost like she _knew_ that she was at the top of the food chain when it came to hooking up, and she was determined to use that power to grab herself the most alpha octoling in the entire city. She really hoped…that, during her date tomorrow, Midas wouldn't treat her the same way Bella tended to treat her admirers. He was at the top of _her_ food chain, after all. At least…the way she thought of him.

She took a deep breath and held it while she typed out her next response. "So listen…about how u seduced that skater boy…"

"U want the 8==D from Midas?" Bella replied, before Aurora even had the chance to finish typing her follow-up text.

Aurora recoiled from her phone when she read that message, her cheeks flushing purple once again. She covered her mouth to keep from interjecting in the store.

"Bella!" She typed frantically, along with a slew of five blush emojis.

Bella's only response to her friend's embarrassed outburst was a smirk emoji, which ultimately went unacknowledged. Aurora was too shocked by her prior message to say anything else about it. Luckily, Bella knew to continue without being prompted.

"Look, ur lucky I'm helping u, cuz I'm still pissed that u used us to get to this guy. "Must be the pot smoke still wafting around in here."

"Thank u. I'm sorry. :'( " Aurora drabbled with a guilty look on her face.

With that, Bella began typing her instructions. Her first message took a bit of time to appear on Aurora's screen. "U see, boys r simple creatures. If u want to get Midas interested in u, u just have to show him what ur made of."

"What do u mean?"

"I'm saying…if ur just trying to get the D, it ain't gonna come down to havin' class."

Aurora blushed again when she read that text. It seemed to happen to her whenever naughty subjects entered the conversation, regardless of how open she tried to be about them. The fact that she had injected the sleeping bag with ink from dirty thoughts earlier that morning was…rather ironic, put simply.

Bella continued with another message. "Think of it like this. U want to flop around with Midas? All u gotta do is show him what he'd get if HE flops around with U. Catch my drift?"

Aurora stared at her phone for several seconds, confused by her friend's strange wording. "…No."

"Be loose! Be a whore! Give the hunky squid a taste of Aurora when she wants the D!" Bella spewed rashly, adding a number of sea cucumber and clam emojis to further drill her point.

The vulgar and confronting nature of Bella's reply slammed at Aurora when she read it. She nearly dropped her phone, but she managed to keep her reaction under control.

"Quit saying it like that!" She whined.

"U still haven't denied it."

Aurora started to type out her objection, but before she could, she noticed that Bella's status had suddenly changed to "Away." Just like that, with no warning, Bella had left the octo hanging, holding her phone out in the store with a wide-eyed look that could only be described as dumbstruck. She glanced uneasily at the other shoppers around her, as if expecting them to give her dirty looks, but obviously, none of them could see the texts she had just received. In fact, none of them were paying attention to her.

She continued to stand in place for a few moments after Bella's disappearance, unsure of what to do with the advice she had given her. She knew what it all meant, of course, but it took a bit of time for her to piece together how it could translate into a good clothing choice. After all, she couldn't just show up _naked_ to Albacore Hotel tomorrow, and even if she could, she figured the lack of subtlety would shock Midas out of their date before it could even begin. How would she be able to hit the mark without just tackling him in the lobby and tearing all their garments off?

As these flurried thoughts were bouncing around in her head, Aurora's gaze drifted across the rows of clothing items that lined the aisle in which she stood. It seemed as if she had wandered into the sports section while texting Bella, since the only items she could see surrounding her were tank tops, basketball shorts, and team jerseys. Aurora could actually see Eight running her hand through a few jerseys on the other side of the aisle, but besides her, the aisle was pretty much populated entirely by inkling boys. Some of the boys were already wearing tank tops, with oversized armholes and collars that drooped far down their figure and exposed much of their shoulders, as well as an extended region below their armpits. They seemed well-suited for…well…playing sports. They probably also worked great for turf wars.

Seeing the loose-fitting coverings on her fellow shoppers gave Aurora a devious idea. Her derogated expression slowly morphed into a scheming grin as she worked out the perfect way to advertise herself to Midas without breaking any decency laws. Before giving Eight the chance to look up and notice her in the same aisle, she swiped a Navy King tank top from the rack in front of her and scuttled out of the sports section as fast as her heels would allow. She then made her way to the nearby summer section of the store, where seasonal items like bikinis and sleeveless tees were flying off the shelves in time for the Splatfest, and grabbed the shortest, skimpiest pair of beach shorts she could find. Finally, with an item in both hands and her bag dangling from her elbow, Aurora quickly stumbled her way upstairs toward the changing rooms to try out the look, her frantic feet nearly tripping on every step. When she stepped into the first vacant room and closed the door behind her, she knew she would soon be emerging as a changed octo. Well…on the outside, at least.

The changing room contained a large mirror that covered the entire right wall, as well as a bench on the opposite side, upon which Aurora promptly seated herself after locking the door. While staring at herself in the mirror, she set her bag, her shades, and the two clothing items next to her on the bench before proceeding with the undressing process. She first unfastened her high heels and slid them off her feet, which allowed her the clearance to grip her shorts at the waist and pull them down past her ankles. Eager as she was, instead of leaning forward and removing her shorts from her ankles by hand, she used her legs to shake them onto the floor while she immediately began extracting her long-sleeve Annaki Drive t-shirt. The sports bra she had chosen to wear for her splat zone battle that day came into view as the seam of her t-shirt came up to her shoulders. She briefly adjusted her grip on the collar, and she pulled the garment up over her head with little effort. In mere seconds, the octoling staring back at her in the mirror was already half naked, her exterior coverings laying discarded on the floor.

Next, she grabbed the beach shorts from the bench with the frenetic urgency of a young octo grabbing a present from under the Squidmas tree. In her hands, the garment looked no more concealing than a pair of briefs, and when she pulled them up to her waist after inserting her feet through the holes, she saw for herself how short they really were. They _barely_ managed to cover up her underwear at the thighs. In fact, whenever she sat the wrong way or crossed her legs, the fabric would actually retract upwards and _reveal_ a bit of her underwear. Even Aurora had to admit…those shorts were kind of risky. Regardless, they were exactly what she had been looking for.

With that, the last thing to be applied was the Navy King tank top. Aurora could already see the extent of her transformation in the mirror with just the shorts, but she knew she needed the tank top to complete her look. She could feel the anticipation rising within herself as she picked up the loose covering, moved closer to the mirror, and fervidly draped it over herself. Of course, it fit terribly. Around her neck, it was clear that the thing practically had no collar. It almost seemed to fall into position when she put it over her head, requiring no effort from her to pull it past her face. As a tank top, it also had no sleeves, so the only things keeping the piece tethered to her shoulders were its dangly shoulder straps. The interesting thing was…the tank top itself wasn't actually that big on her. From her bra to her hips, it actually fit her curves rather comfortably.

The area around her shoulders, however, was an entirely different story. Aurora snagged a long, thorough look at herself in the mirror after putting on the top, and from what she could see in her appearance, her sports bra seemed to be doing _a lot_ of the talking. As she expected with such a clothing choice, the better part of Aurora's entire bust was shamelessly revealed by the tank top, thanks to the lack of snugness in its upper half. The extent to which her sports bra was exposed to the light made the entire point of the tank top seem questionable. In fact, with how much of the area was showing, Aurora wondered if just going to the hotel shirtless would be an easier alternative. After all, she had one chance to convince Midas that she would be an ideal mate for the Splatfest. Without the tank top, her sports bra would obviously still be showing, but she'd also have the added benefit of exposing her abdomen for him as well.

Aurora fell deeper into thought the more she stared at herself in the mirror. She liked how the tank top gave her chest area a bit of breathing room, but she wasn't a fan of how her sports bra looked behind it. She didn't mind the bra itself, but its colors didn't really mesh well with the top, and if she was planning to show off her bra, she much preferred to go all out and exclude the tank top altogether. Unfortunately…she wasn't sure if she'd be able to get away with that. A bra without a top was…definitely out of the picture.

But…what if, she thought lewdly…she could try it the other way around…? Aurora bit her lip hard when the unorthodox idea popped into her head. She knew she couldn't show her face in public with only a sports bra covering her upper body, and she didn't like the way the tank top and her bra looked together, so…that only left her with one alternative. The thought of it slightly intimidated the adventurous octo…but it also filled her with nervous excitement. She wasn't _entirely_ sure whether she'd be able to get away with it, and if she had to be honest…that fact was exactly what made it so enticing.

For every moment that Aurora spent thinking about the idea in front of the mirror, her hearts would beat faster. The way she figured, if she were ever going to give her idea a try, she would have to do it quickly. Therefore, before she even noticed herself doing it, she grabbed the tank top by the waist, pulled it back over her head, and set it on the bench behind her. Then, she took hold of the bottom seam of her sports bra, and…after a quick, deep breath…she took that off as well. As Aurora worked to get the garment up to her shoulders, her breasts were tugged upwards with it, until they eventually broke free and fell back to their natural position. When she discarded her bra and turned back to the mirror to inspect herself, she was greeted by the familiar sight of her own boobs in the reflection, her purplish nipples staring right back at her like a second pair of eyes.

Aurora was obviously quite used to seeing her own breasts, but something about viewing them under the fluorescent lights of a public changing room gave her riveting vibes. She could step through that door any time she wanted, and every boy in the store would probably want to divebomb her right on the spot. Of course, there was really only one boy that mattered to her. As she stood completely topless in the center of the space, she began imagining Midas in place of her reflection, gawking fondly at her feminine physique while slowly approaching her to act on his desires. Her boobs were just hanging there in the open…vulnerable to any frisky cephalopod's prying tentacles…yet she wanted Midas to be the one to take them for his own.

Before reaching for the tank top to put over her exposed body, Aurora cupped a hand under each of her breasts and gave them a few tender squeezes. The action reminded her of Bella's stunt with the skater boy earlier that afternoon, minus the fact that the skater boy had been a lot less gentle to Bella's boobs. Aurora imagined herself in Bella's situation, replacing the skater boy in the scenario with Midas, and just like that, her squeezes began to get a little more intense. She closed her eyes and let out a yearnful sigh amidst her toying. Unbeknownst to her at first, her walls were starting to break down again, as evidenced by the buildup of pressure in her lower body and the gradual increase of movement in her hips. One of her hands eventually trailed down from her embonpoint and into her beach shorts, where she ardently resumed performing those delectable, circular motions, and even then, Aurora failed to notice the danger she was posing to the clothing store's changing room. Luckily, she stopped her activities before she could drench the floor in ink, thanks to being snapped out of her trance by the loud, fervent moan she emitted. A heavy blush crossed her face when she returned to reality.

At the conclusion of her brief self-love session, all of Aurora's doubts were pretty much eradicated. She knew for _sure_ that she wanted Midas's hands and tentacles on her, even if it meant facing the potential drawbacks of indecent exposure. It wasn't about to be the most subtle of choices, but then again, nothing Aurora did was ever that subtle. When she had her mind set on something, she attacked it with absolutely no restraint. Midas would just have to be ready to see a little more of his date than he expected.

Once she was back to thinking straight after nearly collapsing into another inky mess, Aurora swiped the tank top from the bench and slipped it back on without her bra. The loose area around her shoulders brought her breasts dreadfully close to complete exposure, especially without an undergarment to keep them constrained while she moved. She could even feel the sensation for herself, which was comparable to just staying topless, but she ignored it. The entranced octo stuffed her previous clothes in her bag, including her sports bra, put her heels back on, and scurried out of the changing room.

Back in the main shopping area of the store, Aurora was surprised to see Eight waiting for her by the base of the staircase. She must've known that Aurora had gone up to one of the changing rooms, or she could've simply seen her ascending the stairs. Either way, she was glad she wouldn't have to search for her.

After waving down to Eight, Aurora grabbed onto the handrail and started down the flight of stairs as fast as she could. She stumbled quite a few times, even needing the handrail once or twice to keep herself from falling, but overall, she felt like she was rapidly getting the hang of her high heels. On her way down, however, she felt her breasts bounce a lot with every movement she made, and at one point, she suspected that one of her nipples might've poked out from behind the tank top's droopy shoulder straps. Eight was watching her while she descended the steps, and when this supposedly happened, her eyes seemed to widen a bit.

When Aurora reached the bottom and let go of the handrail, she noticed Eight's eyes trailing down to her bosom. It was rather unusual for the quiet octo to address others without direct eye contact.

"…Aurora…?"

Aurora looked at her innocently. "Yeah?"

"What…are you wearing?" She uttered, her eyes still stuck on her friend's chest.

"Isn't it feisty? Bella told me to be direct and give Midas what he wants, so I'm branching out a little bit!"

Eight seemed extremely uncertain. Aurora played with one of her hair curls a bit while she waited for her gaze to turn back up. However, Eight seemed unable to draw her eyes away from the elephant…or _elephants_…in the room. Nearly all the parts of Aurora's breasts were showing through the tank top's baggy shoulder straps. Without any securing agents around her bust, her intimate mounds hung freely behind the fabric, and thanks to the top's oversized apertures, the flesh of said mounds could be seen at almost any angle. Aurora's nipples were essentially the only parts not showing directly, but they were still poking noticeably through the tank top's thin fabric, and whenever she moved too swiftly, she risked flashing nearby squids or octos with their bounce. It was all _too much_ for her, but Aurora didn't seem to share that mindset.

"But, Aurora…" Eight stammered weakly. "…it's _so_ revealing…"

Aurora glanced down at herself. From her angle, she could see everything underneath. "Yeah…I suppose it kind of is…"

"Are you sure it's what Midas wants?"

"Well…Bella says boys are simple creatures. If Midas sees me like this, he'll _have_ to find me attractive." She gave Eight a friendly smile, but Eight was still captivated by the poorly concealed boobs in front of her. "I just _know_ he will."

"Please…you _have_ to be careful." Eight urged. She sounded a bit more emotional than Aurora was used to.

"I'm _being_ careful, Eight." She shot back. "I can't get in trouble if I have something covering my chest."

"Your chest is _not_ covered, though." Eight argued. "And it's not the legality I am worried about."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "Eight, it's fine. Nothing's going to happen to me. Don't you have shirts you want to show me or something?"

Eight was taken aback by Aurora's stubbornness. Regardless…she decided not to say anything else about it. As rude as her friend's last statement was, she was correct. Eight had done some quick searching throughout the first-floor aisles, knowing that they only had limited time to browse, and she had once again narrowed her findings down to two choices. She finally looked up to meet Aurora's gaze after blatantly staring at her mammaries for several minutes, and she held up the two shirts without saying a word. One of them was a classic, black t-shirt by Squidforce, with very short sleeves and emphasized curves at the hips, and the other was an extremely familiar OctoKing HK jersey by Enperry. Aurora raised a brow when she saw the jersey in her friend's hand.

"Hey…isn't that the exact same jersey Bella wears?"

"It is."

"Well…why are you choosing this one? You don't think Bella would find it awkward?"

Eight shrugged carelessly. "I do not know. It looks comfortable, and I like the number 8 on the back."

"Then you should get it. Get the one that you like more." Aurora sternly suggested.

"I like both of them. I want to know what you think."

"I don't know, Eight!" Aurora suddenly blurted, causing Eight to take a step backward. "You just have to dress yourself in whatever you think your Splatfest date will like the most!"

"I do not know what my ideal Splatfest date will like. That's why I am asking you."

"Well, I'm not your Splatfest date, so I don't know either. Personally, I like them both too, so I say just get both of them." She stated dismissively.

Eight stood silently for a few moments with an increasing hint of bleakness in her expression. Meanwhile, Aurora waited impatiently for her response. Ever since her carnal clothing choice was criticized by the reserved octo, her kind and tolerant attitude seemed to dissipate. Nothing about being told what to wear sat well with her, especially when her clothing choice was an integral part of her plan to claim her goal. She seemed to differ greatly with Eight in that regard.

After an awkward couple of seconds, Eight finally gave a reaction. "…Okay. I will be back."

While Eight disappeared up the stairs to change into one of the shirts she had selected, Aurora marched over to the cashier's counter to wait for her. The cashier of the clothing store was an inkling girl with braided hair and an elegant uniform, and the whole time Aurora was standing in her line of sight, she had her undivided attention. She couldn't tell if the look she was giving her was approving or skeptical, but she knew for a fact that her eyes were making her a tad uncomfortable. To deal with it, she directed her body away from the counter and tried to distract herself with other things. By the time Eight was coming back down the stairs in the OctoKing jersey, holding the black t-shirt in her hand, Aurora had received glances from a number of shoppers throughout the store, both boys and girls. The boys' attention made her feel empowered, while the girls' attention had the contrasting effect of making her feel ashamed. She took another look at her breasts, which were drifting dangerously close to the tank top's armholes as she leaned, and sighed.

* * *

Aurora and Eight didn't talk much for a while after finishing their shopping. Neither of them said a word while Eight approached the cashier and paid for their clothing items, even after the cashier had felt the need to comment snootily on Aurora's…perky protrusions. They had simply completed their transaction and moved on their merry way without acknowledging her. Afterwards, they walked regally out of the store and directed themselves toward the turf war arena without looking back.

Despite their recent squabble, Aurora and Eight still stuck faithfully to their evening dinner plan. Therefore, as they made their way back to the arena, they set their sights on a picnic table near the fenced perimeter. Aurora had nearly perfected her stance in the high heels, and as such, her walking posture on their way down the path projected a sense of confidence and maturity that drew in tons of attention. And of course, once she had the bystanders' attention, there was no stopping them from rapidly noticing her lack of bra. Inklings and octolings were practically stopping in their tracks when she walked by. Sunglasses were lowered, hats were turned around, and in pretty much all cases, jaws were dropped. Both she and Eight were well aware of the disruptions she was causing.

By the time the duo found an ideal table, a turf war between indigo and yellow-colored ink was just ending. They had managed to find a spot atop a raised terrace that looked down upon the arena, with several carry-out restaurants lining the walk behind them. It was practically perfect for their needs, and with their superb timing at the end of the previous battle, tables were opening up left and right. They were glad to have the added convenience.

Aurora and Eight sat down across from each other, with both of their seats angled adequately to view the activity below. They intended to remain there and relax for a battle or two before getting food. Aurora wished she could make up for her and her friend's disagreement by buying dinner for her, but…she didn't have her coins with her. She certainly owed Eight some money after today, that was for sure.

Just before she could open her mouth to ask Eight which restaurant she wanted to eat from, she noticed a pair of shadows creeping up behind her seat. Aurora turned around and timidly looked up at her visitors, finding them to be a pair of thirsty-looking octo boys.

"What's up, sexy mollusk? Enjoying the warm weather?" The first one said.

"You must be, 'cause you seem to be _missing_ something." The second one added with a lascivious grin. Aurora retracted into herself significantly when the boys began talking to her.

"Don't worry, little octo, we heard your message loud and clear. Followed you here from the shop to see if you and your friend wanted to come home with us for a little _turf war_." The first one declared raunchily.

When Aurora failed to reply to her harassers, Eight spoke up on her behalf. "Hey, leave her alone. She is saving herself for someone."

"_Saving herself_? Are you joking?" The second octo scoffed as he stepped around to Aurora's side and leaned over her, trapping her treacherously in her seat. "You look to me like you're open for business! Those rockin' burst bombs of yours are tellin' us the whole story!"

The first octo built upon his friend's imposing by stepping around to Aurora's other side and glaring into her tank top for a better view. "Yeeeah, those suckers look ready to _pop_. How can you be 'saving yourself' when you're walking around with _these things_ out in the open?"

Aurora immediately crossed her arms in front of her in a vain effort to conceal her breasts from her attackers. She kept lowering her head to avoid seeing the octos' faces again. Eight stood up from her seat and put her hands on the table when the boys started invading her friend's personal space, but the gesture didn't seem to deter them from their prize.

The second octo got even closer to Aurora, causing her to pinch her eyes shut and turn her face the other away. "A beautiful octoling like you deserves a bit of pampering. I'd say you could use a little _massage_, don't you think? Those ink tanks of yours are looking a little full!"

Aurora jumped a mile in her skin when the second octo reached into the armhole of her tank top and began groping one of her boobs. He smirked while he did so, clearly enjoying the treat he was giving to himself. The first octo, enabled by his friend's actions, descended further onto her shortly thereafter. Finally, Eight shoved her chair out from the table and stormed around to the second octo after seeing Aurora's distress. She grabbed his wrist and forcefully yanked it away from Aurora, much to his surprise.

"Get away from her. Can't you see she is not interested?" She ordered threateningly.

"A fighter, huh?" He rasped. "What are you trying to rain on our parade for?"

"Yeah, what gives? Why would you let your friend dress like a whore if you weren't going to let her have a bit of fun?" The first octo demanded.

"I do not 'let' Aurora do anything. She is an independent octopus, and she can wear whatever makes her happy. I am stopping you because she is not interested in you, and you are unfairly forcing yourselves on her. Now get lost." Eight stated with unwavering authority. Aurora had never heard such a monologue from her. It was probably the longest ongoing statement she had ever made.

"Pfft, what a white knight." The second octo muttered in response to being put in his place.

"Exactly." The first octo added. "Why don't you lesbos take each _other_ to the Splatfest?"

The two oppressors snickered in unison to the jab as they turned around and strolled away pathetically. Aurora's face remained hidden to the side for a while after they left, leaving Eight staring at her with concern. In an attempt to pull her back out of her shell, she walked up behind Aurora and laid her hand on her back. The day had been going so well for her. Eight just hoped that the two negative events at the end didn't ruin the entire excursion for her.

Aurora let out a long, defeated sigh. "…Being loose is _hard_. I don't know how Bella does it."

"Do not blame yourself. Those guys are worthless bottom-feeders. Midas should not be like that." Eight assured.

Aurora didn't give an immediate response to her friend's encouraging statement. Eventually, though, she gave Eight the words that she fully deserved to hear after all she had done for her that afternoon.

"Thank you so much, Eight. I don't know what I would do without you."

Another slight grin appeared on Eight's face, which Aurora, once again, did not see.

"Friends stick together."


	6. Chapter 6: The Balcony

Following the incident with the octo boys, Aurora struggled to return to a talkative state. She had prepared a few personal questions for Eight before asking her to come to The Reef that day, and their dinner together was supposed to be the perfect time to ask them in a private, peaceful setting. However, after nearly having her innocence stolen from her by her dastardly visitors, she couldn't muster the energy needed to carry on a conversation. Eight understood completely. Being the laconic cephalopod that she was, she avoided saying anything that would make Aurora uncomfortable, choosing instead to amuse herself with the events of the turf wars happening below. Aurora wound up doing the same after she and Eight had returned to the table with their food. As a result, the two octos spoke very little during their dinner.

The activity around The Reef never slowed down during the remainder of their stay. The girls were lucky to have found a table when they did, as another ten minutes in the shops would've rendered the terraces near the arena untouchable. Squids and octos were scattered all over the sidewalks, producing a constant stream of zestful chatter that never seemed to quit. Just like everywhere else in the city, the upcoming Splatfest was taking the hotspot by storm. Aurora even spotted a number of Splatfest t-shirts among the fray, and as her eyes scanned over them, she kept a mental tally of each side's popularity. For every aqua-blue Team Personality t-shirt she saw, she counted about…three Team Looks shirts. She didn't really know what to make of those numbers.

Over the course of their meal, which lasted roughly an hour, the turf wars continued on tap with raging, and rather entertaining, ferocity. Though some battles had longer waits than others, the overall density of inklings and octolings looking to splat away their evenings kept the arena lively the entire time. The girls had to guard their food a few times from rogue Sting-Rays and Ink Storms, but in their opinion, that aspect was part of the fun. It certainly beat sitting back at the apartment with Bella and Ula…considering the disharmony she had introduced between them.

Eventually, when the streetlights around The Reef began to illuminate, and the arena started to close down at the end of the last skirmish, Aurora and Eight were not quick to stick around. Shortly after the last shots of ink left the combatants' weapons, and the winning team was announced, the duo stood up from the table simultaneously, gathered their belongings, and removed their trash from the table to be discarded. A posh-looking inkling couple swooped in to take their seats as soon as they had vacated them, each glaring disgustedly at Aurora's tank top before sitting down. Aurora looked the other way and refused to let herself feel any more shame for her raunchy clothing choice.

Once everything was in order, the girls directed themselves toward Inkopolis Square and super-jumped before anyone else could hassle Aurora over her appearance. They still needed to recover their weapons from storage before heading back to Eight's apartment. It never took long for them to do so, of course, but after the way things had gone on the terrace, Aurora didn't want to take any chances. After all, the square was still alive with scores of Splatfest applicants, and it only took one pair of wandering eyes for things to start going south again. Eight had to break into a light jog to keep up with her friend as she bolted towards Sheldon's shop to retrieve their stuff. They knew Sheldon wouldn't judge.

It wasn't until after they had finished this task, with Eight's E-Liter on her back and Aurora holding her Splattershot in front of her chest, that the two octos finally spoke to each other again. Eight piped up first, just as Aurora was beginning to make her way towards the nearby metro station.

"Aurora…wait."

Aurora stopped and turned around. "What?"

"We should not take the metro." She uttered, pulling out her phone and tapping the screen with her finger. "I am calling a taxi."

"A taxi? But...the metro is so much faster."

Eight glanced up from the screen for a moment, meeting Aurora's gaze directly. Aurora tried to read her friend's expression, but to no avail. "I am just looking out for you. You are dressed very provocatively."

"…Oh…" Aurora mumbled. She stared down into the drooping collar of her tank top again while Eight summoned a taxi to the outskirts of the square through an app on her phone. As convenient as the metro station would've been, Aurora understood why Eight deemed it a risky move. The metro was used almost exclusively by octolings, the majority of which were likely to lack restraint upon seeing Aurora's exposed curves bouncing around with the movement of the subway car. Once again, her friend was doing her a subtle favor.

The taxi driver, a well-groomed inkling boy with a casual perm and glasses thicker than Aurora's, remained quiet during the ride back to Eight's apartment. Aurora was relieved by that fact, caring very little about whether he was doing it out of courtesy or contempt. As far as she was concerned, a quiet ride was a peaceful ride. She spent the entire trip leaning against the car door with her weapon on her lap, her eyes fixed on the sidewalk outside the window. A certain turmoil remained ever present in her mind, making it difficult for her to focus on one thought for more than a few minutes. It seemed like the problem was rapidly getting worse…with no end in sight until the moment she got her happy ending with Midas. She wanted to vent about it so _desperately_…to pour out her feelings in every last besotted, perverted detail…but she didn't know if Eight would be any more willing to listen than her other friends back home.

In such a jumbled state of mind, she didn't really notice the passage of time. The taxi zigzagged along the streets of the city, with the girls in tow, for about twenty minutes before reaching Eight's apartment building and coming to a stop along the sidewalk. Even then, it wasn't until Eight leaned forward to hand her card to the driver that Aurora noticed they were at their destination. The buildings had a tendency to start looking the same when her mind was lost in other things. Without waiting for Eight to finish paying, she stepped out of the car and began trudging toward the lobby doors. Eight followed her at a relaxed pace just a few moments later, after exiting the car herself.

Right away, two things jumped out to Aurora about the building that housed her dear friend. Firstly, there was the fact that it had an indoor lobby. In contrast, the stairwells and hallways of Aurora's home were all outdoors, resembling something like scaffolding instead of an actual part of the building's structure. Their place didn't even have a formal office on the first floor, while Eight's building had a long desk in its lobby that, from the looks of it, was occupied by a couple of octoling employees at all times of the day. Aurora could only imagine how nice it must've been for Eight to be able to report issues without having to pester the landlord over the phone. That aspect alone was enough to put Eight's living conditions a league or two ahead of her own.

The other thing Aurora noticed upon entering the blissfully air-conditioned building was the elevator on the back wall of the lobby. The humble octo almost couldn't believe her eyes when she saw it. Eight's apartment building actually had a real, _functioning_ elevator. If the rest of the interior didn't already prove the superiority of the place, the elevator was definitely the deciding factor. Aurora had never even stayed in a _hotel_ with such a luxury, let alone considered living in a place with one. She still had yet to see Eight's foyer at that point, and she was already flabbergasted by the gaping chasm that seemed to separate Eight's and her friends' economic standing.

Aurora kept a careful eye on the other octos in the lobby as she and Eight made their way to the mystical elevator. The lobby wasn't actually that crowded, considering the time of day, but Aurora preferred to be cautious anyway. The treatment she had gotten from those octo boys earlier had a way of making her wary of her surroundings. Therefore, she tried avidly to maintain an inconspicuous stride beside her friend as they approached the sliding doors. Even after Eight pushed the up-button on the panel, while they were waiting for the elevator to descend, Aurora stood very close to the doors with her back to the rest of the lobby.

It took the elevator about fifteen seconds to arrive at their floor. Aurora tapped her foot impatiently during the wait, eager to reach the safety and privacy of Eight's abode so she could change into comfier clothes for the night. When the elevator reached the lobby, and the doors began to open, Aurora stood herself as close to them as she could. Unfortunately, just as she was preparing to barrel into the elevator, she was startled by the sight of an octoling already standing inside. He stepped forward to exit into the lobby as soon as the doors granted him clearance, but he stopped once he caught a glimpse of Aurora's front side. The two of them gasped simultaneously, and Aurora whipped her body to the side to conceal her chest from the unexpected stranger.

With Eight watching vigilantly from behind, Aurora sidestepped her way into the elevator with her back turned to the octo dude. He merely stood and watched her as she moved, his eyes trailing to several different places.

"Damn, girl, are you lookin' for a Splatfest partner? We don't normally get cute veemos like you around here." He flirted.

"N…No thanks. I already have a Splatfest partner." She replied shakily.

The boy raised an eyebrow. "You sure you're happy with him, though? With the way you're dressed, you look to me like you're fixin' for someone else to take your reigns. Know what I'm sayin'?"

"These aren't for you." She repeated. She kept her back to him the entire time, unwilling to drive up his desire by giving him another peek. Eight positioned herself a little closer to her friend.

"Well, what are you _showin'_ them to me for? And everyone else in the city?" He rebutted with a provoking chuckle. "I'm not the only guy who's gonna see all that and assume you're out for a mate."

Eight stepped between Aurora and the boy on the elevator, obstructing his view of her. She then faced him, narrowing her gaze to instill dominance in the situation once again. "Why are you still trying? You have been rejected. Move on."

He rolled his eyes. "Pfft, fine. A word of advice, try putting on a damn bra if you can't handle all the attention."

The boy marched off the elevator toward the front doors of the building without looking back. Hoping to avoid another unwanted encounter, Aurora urged Eight to press the correct button on the panel the second they had the elevator to themselves. Eight quickly obliged by leaning over in front of her and pressing the button for the fifth floor. Neither of them talked during the elevator's ascent, but Aurora was still ever grateful for her friend's protection. Without her, her clothing choice at The Reef would've probably gotten her abducted before long. She just hoped that Midas would provide her with the same security.

On the fifth floor, the elevator doors opened to reveal a junction, where the hallway extended an equal distance to both the left and the right. Aurora had never been inside Eight's apartment building, so she let Eight lead the way after stepping onto the carpeted floor of the waiting area. She followed her friend as she took the left side of the junction and strolled down the hallway toward her front door. Her E-Liter swayed slightly on her back with each step, the narrow tube on the end nearly colliding with the light fixtures on the ceiling on her way by. She seemed confident that her gigantic weapon wouldn't hit anything in the narrow space, which made sense, considering how often she walked through it on a daily basis.

With Aurora tottering close behind her, Eight stopped on the fuzzy welcome-mat in front of door number 588 and extracted her apartment key out of her new satchel. Aurora had always been curious of which exact room number Eight lived in, but once she saw it on the plaque above the knocker, she was not surprised by it. She waited quietly behind her friend while she briefly fiddled with the lock, anxious as ever to see the luscious interior of her middle-class apartment. The sound of the lock giving way after a few short seconds made her hearts flutter a bit. She couldn't wait to see how nice it was.

Eight turned the handle and pushed open the door, returning the key to her bag immediately after finishing with the lock. Aurora peeked over Eight's head using the added leverage from her high heels and observed what she could from the doorway. Right away, she was blown away by what she saw. It already looked like paradise on earth, but it wasn't until she stepped into the foyer and closed the door behind her that she got the most encompassing view of Eight's home.

The foyer opened straight through to the living room, which was teeming with the natural light of dusk from the tall windows that lined the back walls. The setting sun on the cusp of the city's skyline was actually the first thing Aurora saw upon entering the apartment, along with the orangish glow it cast over all the furniture. Compared to her own living room with the girls, which lacked direct access to the sun, it created a delightfully pleasant and refreshing atmosphere that could be felt the moment she had immersed herself in it.

The kitchen was located just left of the living room, and unlike the girls' kitchen, it was not separated by a doorway. Rather, it was connected to the living room as one large space, marked only by the floor's transition from carpet to tile. The kitchen itself was loaded with exquisite amenities, including a dishwasher, an oven with an electric stove on top, an overhead microwave, and even a stainless-steel refrigerator. There was even a bowl of fruit on the counter in the middle of the room. Aurora was most impressed by the open-style bar that faced the living room, allowing guests in the apartment to sit at the countertop without having to enter the kitchen. It was like something straight out of the TV shows.

On the other side of the space from the kitchen, a narrow, straight hallway extended beyond the right wall of the living room, ending in a trio of doors that couldn't be seen in much detail from where she was standing. She decided to wait for an invitation from Eight before bolting down that hallway to see what her bedroom looked like. As for the living room itself, the quality of its contents was second to none. The right wall hosted a flat-screen TV beside the entrance to the hallway, mounted above a glass entertainment center that served almost no purpose. A long couch with black leather upholstery was positioned facing the TV in the middle of the room, with ample space behind to walk around and access the bar. A coffee table sat right in front of the couch, just like in the girls' apartment, but its top was also made of glass instead of wood. Through the windows, much to her amazement, Aurora could see what appeared to be a _balcony_, with two lawn chairs and a miniature side-table bedecking its concrete surface before the falling sun. It wasn't immediately clear to her how to reach the balcony from inside, since the back wall did not have a door leading to it.

Everything in Eight's apartment, at least from what Aurora could see, was _extremely_ clean and tidy. Aside from how spacious and cozy it was, the neatness was probably the biggest aspect that set it apart from the girls' apartment a few blocks over. The only object sitting atop the entertainment center beneath the TV was a mist-dispensing air freshener, which Aurora could smell the moment Eight had opened the front door. While there weren't many stray items to be seen throughout the apartment, the things she _could_ see were arranged in a consistent, orderly manner. For instance, the TV remotes on the coffee table were placed perfectly parallel to each other, exactly the same distance apart. On top of that, the posters she kept on the front wall by the door were organized in a grid-like pattern, leaving no error in the gaps between them. Several of her posters matched the ones in the girls' apartment, but it threw Aurora off to see them exhibited so neatly.

"Holy kraken…" She uttered. "You live like an X-ranker compared to us…"

"It is sufficient." Eight replied. She bent over in front of Aurora and began taking off her shoes, prompting Aurora to do the same. It looked to her like Eight spent hours cleaning her home on a regular basis, so the last thing she wanted to do was track dirt and dust on the carpet.

"Sorry for asking, but…how do you afford a place like this? Do you work in one of the upper districts?"

Eight didn't respond right away. After setting her E-Liter against the wall and pushing her shoes aside with her foot, she walked across the living room and embarked down the hall towards the three doors. "I get help. From a friend."

"A friend? Is it the same friend that gave you your credit card?"

Aurora stayed right by Eight's side as she went, but Eight did not turn to acknowledge her. As usual, her friend did not seem eager to answer her question. She wondered if she was starting to get too personal for Eight's comfort, or if her pestering was annoying her into staying quiet.

At the end of the hallway, Eight stepped briskly into the door on the right, with Aurora following close behind. Once she got close enough to crane her head around and see what was inside, however, she stopped in her tracks and blushed sheepishly. It was a bathroom.

"Oh…I'm sorry. I'll…uhh…I'll give you a moment." She stammered.

Eight nodded once before closing the door behind her, leaving Aurora standing by herself in the hallway. Her first instinct was to turn around and dawdle back to the living room, since she didn't want to make Eight uncomfortable by standing within earshot while she was trying to freshen up. She was still curious as ever to see Eight's bedroom on the other side of the hall, but she knew she needed to be courteous in her friend's home. Especially considering how kind and selfless she had been to her all day.

On that note, Aurora returned to the living room, set her Splattershot next to Eight's weapon by the front door, and took another moment to drink in the sight of her spectacular residence. Her sense of awe was further amplified when she shimmied over to the couch and sat down, feeling the soft leather encase her weary appendages as she sank into the cushions. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her own friend…an _octoling_ like her…was basically living like an inkling under her nose. Wealth and freshness, at least at the level enjoyed by inklings, were things she had accepted as being forever beyond her reach. Of course, even her humble little existence in the bottom-feeders' district was a step up from her childhood in Octo Valley, so she never really expected anything more. All this time, though…Eight had been secretly proving that a life of luxury could truly be lived by anyone. If only Aurora and her friends knew how she did it.

Thinking heavily about these things, and slowly dissolving from the blissful comfort of Eight's couch, Aurora let her gaze trail off toward the windows, where the tiniest shred of sunlight could still be seen backlighting the skyscrapers of Inkopolis. The city's lights were just about the only things illuminating Eight's apartment by this hour. The tranquil feelings they created were unlike anything Aurora had felt before. As far as she was concerned…her stresses were momentarily suspended by their glow.

However, it was not long before her mind returned to the present. While staring out at the city past Eight's balcony, Aurora noticed a small glint on the side-table from through the window. Her eyes focused on the disturbance, but without her usual glasses on, she couldn't tell what it was from the couch. Everything about the apartment made Aurora curious, and the contents of the balcony were no exception. The longer she stared, the more it bothered her. Eventually, without really having to think about it, she stood up from the couch and walked over to the window before pressing her face to the glass for a better look.

She couldn't make out much from the limited lighting, of course, but she was able to infer the shape of a thin, rod-like object sitting atop the foldable side-table on her friend's balcony. It looked narrow enough to be a writing utensil…of some kind. That would've made the most sense to the quizzical octo, but the object didn't seem to be accompanied by any paper, and she didn't find it sensible for someone as clean and organized as Eight to leave a pencil or pen sitting out on her balcony instead of on a desk or in a drawer. As if that weren't strange enough, the side-table also seemed to host a small collection of mint-sized pods, which were glassy in texture, and stored in a shallow dish that was barely visible under the conditions. It was a quaint little setup, and one that quickly piqued Aurora's interest.

After a few more seconds of staring, she was forced to withdraw her face from the window by the sound of Eight approaching from down the hall. Regardless, she kept her gaze fixed on the balcony. Eight was rather intrigued by it when she emerged in the living room in her pajamas.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just…" She pointed out the window. "…what's that thing on the table out there? I've never seen anything like it before."

"My clear pen?"

Aurora turned to look at her. "Clear…pen? So it _is_ for writing?"

"No, it is not for writing." Eight answered, shaking her head. "Those pods in the tray are filled with seaweed extract."

Aurora blinked a few times. She wasn't quite sure she heard her friend correctly. Eight continued to stare at her as she stood completely frozen in place, trying unsuccessfully to keep her shocked reaction under control. She stuttered incomprehensibly for a few seconds.

"Y…You smoke seaweed? On your _own_? I thought only lower-ring octolings like _us_ did stuff like that!"

Based on Eight's temperate expression, she didn't seem to find the fact strange at all. "I did not used to, but Ophelia got me into it. If I am feeling stressed, it helps me go to sleep."

"That's just…so…wow. I did not know that about you." Aurora put a hand on her hip. "I didn't even know you could _get_ stressed. You're like…the most rigid octo I've ever known."

"Everyone gets stressed, Aurora. There is a lot more to life than we are both aware of."

"Yeah…" She muttered weakly. She broke her gaze with Eight and glanced down at the carpet as more images of Midas passed through her mind. "…I guess you're right."

A moment of silence transpired between the two girls while Aurora stared at the floor. Neither of them moved from their spots. Aurora could not imagine Eight being stressed about anything, so it was difficult for her fathom the secret aspects of her life that would cause her to feel grief. She was practically rich, she lived in a nice place, she had a gang of tight-knit friends that cared about her, and she was, more or less, really good at everything. How could Eight, the octo with the golden toothpick, have anything to stress about? The answer was just going to have to come as another surprise. After all, with her, there were always many.

"Would you like to have some with me?" She asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Aurora looked up at her. "You want to…smoke seaweed? Right now? On the balcony?"

Eight nodded while maintaining her straight face. "I do. It is a beautiful night."

"Uhh…I…well…" She hadn't expected such a question, that was for sure. Knowing how the stuff tended to mess with her head, especially with her big date tomorrow, she needed a moment to think it over. "…I _suppose_ we could…"

Eight made a gesture with her hand. "Follow me. We can get to the balcony from my bedroom."

Aurora perked up at the sound of that. Eight turned around and began walking back down the hallway without waiting for her friend's response, but at that point, she had already grabbed Aurora's interest. Aurora promptly jogged across the living room to join the PJ'd octo in time for her to reach her bedroom door, which was across from the hall from the bathroom on the left. As Eight grabbed hold of the handle and pushed the door open, Aurora felt a greater level of excitement than she had while waiting outside the foyer.

Her first view of the room came when Eight stepped inside and headed towards the door to the balcony. Aurora's eyes immediately settled on the kraken-sized bed in the middle of the room. It didn't surprise her much that Eight had made her bed that morning, having tucked the comforter into the edges of the mattress with stunning expertise. The comforter itself was adorned with the famous logo of the Squid Sisters, featuring the cartoonish graphic of the celebrities' hands in the "stay fresh" position. The room itself was sparse on decorations, save for the bookshelf behind the bed, which displayed numerous specimens of Inkopolis memorabilia, ranging from album covers and figurines of the Squid Sisters…to framed pictures of Aurora and the girls on their many adventures in the city. She had framed several pictures of the girls together as a group, as well as a picture of each of them individually. It seemed that, from the looks of it, Eight liked to keep lots of memories.

While Aurora was most intrigued by the bed and the items on the shelf behind it, she also noticed a simple four-legged desk in the opposite corner of the room by the wardrobe. Atop the desk lay a small collection of pens, each a different ink color, along with a stack of notebook paper. Not a single sheet was misaligned in the stack, and the pens were all kept exactly parallel to each other, just like the TV remotes on the living room coffee table. It was set up like a nice little writing station. Aurora felt a sudden, powerful urge to go snoop around that desk the moment she laid eyes on it. Writing was the last hobby she would've ever imagined Eight having, so she felt inclined to discover what the quiet octo liked to write about. She didn't get the chance right then, however, as Eight was already waiting for her by the balcony door.

Aurora thanked Eight for holding the door open for her before stepping back out into the calm, late-evening air. The sun itself had recently disappeared from the horizon, and the last remnants of its radiance were just beginning to fade from the sky above. Despite this, though, it was still slightly warmer outside than in Eight's apartment. Aurora's tank top was drafty enough to make the weather feel beautiful. She admired the feeling of it, as well as the fifth-floor view that accompanied it, as she sat down on the lawn chair to the left of the side-table. Eight closed the door behind herself shortly thereafter and sat down in the other available seat, grabbing the clear pen from the table before Aurora had a chance to look at it more closely.

"You know…I never would've guessed that you'd be so into this stuff. Octolings like us usually do it, because…we don't really have anything else. Ula even says it's _all_ she has…" Aurora babbled, trailing off slightly.

"I always join you whenever you and the girls have some." Eight replied blandly, keeping her usual expression while she twisted the end of the pen and removed the empty pod that was inside. "Don't I?"

"Well…yeah…" Aurora stuttered. "…but I just thought you were doing it to fit in with us. With all the nice things you have…and all your money…you remind me more of an inkling than anything else."

"I am an octoling, just like you. I like to have fun. You and the girls thought this was fun, so I joined you." She paused for a moment, setting the old pod carefully on the table and grabbing a new one from the dish to put in the device. "We are not that different."

Aurora nodded slowly. "I see. I guess I just found it interesting that you started doing it on your own. Y'know…without any of us around. And with that…weird…pen thingy."

Without looking at Aurora, Eight fastened the cap back on the clear pen and pressed down on a small button that was located on its side. She held it there, motionless, without blinking, until a tiny green light appeared next to the button. Aurora watched her do it with unbridled fascination. She had been around seaweed much of her adolescent life, but she had never seen such a strange way of doing it before.

"It is electric." Her friend explained. "It heats up the seaweed extract in the pod, which turns it into vapor. It is easier to inhale than smoke from a lighter."

"Whoa…that's the freshest thing ever. I didn't even know that was possible!" She stated keenly.

Aurora thought Eight was going to explain more about the intriguing contraption, but instead, she got right to demonstrating. With the little green light illuminating her thumb, she brought the straw-like device to her mouth, closed her lips around it, and drew in a slow breath. Aurora listened intently to the soft crackling noise made by the object as air was pulled through it into Eight's lungs. She wasn't sure how hard she would have to inhale, nor for how long, but she figured she'd get her answers by watching her friend do it. It looked quite slick to her, and without the added hassle required by Ophelia's bong, it seemed to hold a lot of promise.

Eight withdrew the pen from her face after a couple seconds and sucked in a larger breath to end her hit. Under Aurora's enthralled glare, she exhaled gently, releasing a pale mist of spent vapor into the air through her mouth and nose. She held the pen between her fingers while she expelled the cloud. Aurora couldn't get over how cool it looked compared to the bong. Ultimately dismissing her prior skepticism, she sat forward in her seat and waited eagerly for Eight to hand the pen to her, which she graciously did after allowing her hit to simmer for a few moments.

As soon as Aurora had possession of the device, she mimicked Eight by pressing down on the button with her thumb until the green light came to life in her hand. She then raised the tip of the pen to her mouth and sucked in greedily, her eyes widening to convey the gesture. Eight observed the spectacle with her typical, calm expression. Once the seconds began to tick by like that, with Aurora's lips still closed around the pen, she had to intervene.

"Okay, Aurora, I think that is eno…"

Aurora cut her off slightly as she sputtered once, dispensing a small puff of vapor from her face, and then instantly plummeted into a fit of violent coughing. She whipped the pen away from her face and managed to hold it out for Eight to take while she balled her other hand into a fist in front of her mouth. With each high-pitched cough that wracked her throat, a thick, hazy plume of vapor erupted from her mouth and enveloped her in her seat. The urge to cough had overtaken her so quickly, and now it was too late to rescind. She thought she was handling it rather well at first, as most amateurs often did, before her lungs were suddenly awash with fire from the hot mist.

"I thought…you said…that this thing was easier to hit!" She wheezed between coughs.

"It is." Eight insisted, fanning some of her friend's cloudy coughs away from herself. "But you are not supposed to hit it like a bong. Seaweed extract is very potent, so you do not need to take so much of it."

Aurora gained enough control of her coughing after a few moments to focus on Eight once more, just in time to see her return the pen to her mouth and take another hit. The same familiar crackling sound graced the balcony another time as Eight drew in a moderate amount of vapor from the device without so much as a glimmer of protest from her lungs. Aurora knew when she had handed it back to her that she had over-salivated on it as a result of her coughing, but Eight hadn't bothered to wipe it off before putting it back in her mouth. Rather, she seemed more concerned with showing her friend the proper way to hit a clear pen like a true middle-class octoling…and getting delightfully high while doing it.

The experienced octo removed the pen from her mouth and, while holding her breath, held it towards Aurora at arm's length for another try. Aurora reached up and shyly plucked the device out of her friend's outstretched hand, watching her exhale her dose at exactly the same time. She made it look so easy. Aurora was amused, and quite a bit impressed, at Eight's crafty little display of showmanship. If Midas were to ever take a hit of seaweed like that in front of her, she thought to herself, she would melt into a puddle right on the spot.

Eight sat back in her seat after her second hit. Aurora, with the pen poised comfortably between her thumb and index finger, let out the breath she was holding to prepare for her follow-up toke. Before taking it, though, she glanced right at Eight and attempted to make up for their missed conversation during dinner.

"So…you're a fan of the Squid Sisters, huh?"

Eight turned her head and looked right at her friend. As Aurora brought the pen to her mouth and drew in her second breath, she noticed a change in Eight's posture. Her ears seemed to perk up initially, followed by the rest of her figure as she adjusted to a more upright position.

"I am. Their music inspires me."

A short response, it was, but it was a good enough start for Aurora. She finished inhaling an ample dose from the pen, held it in for a moment, and then let it out with a calm, controlled sigh. Eight was right; the clear pen was a nice little piece when hit correctly.

She handed the device back to Eight, expecting her to raise it up for another hit. Instead, however, she saw her friend turn it off and set it back on the side-table.

"Two hits is good enough. I would still like to be able to walk in a couple hours." Eight declared.

Aurora giggled at her joke. Eight just kept her usual, straight face.

"Anyway, which song is your favorite? Do you have favorites?" She asked innocently.

"Of course. My favorite is the Calamari Inkantation." Eight answered. She kept every ounce of her attention on Aurora after she had started the conversation. "I love it very much."

"You know, I had a feeling you were going to say that." Aurora winked. "The Inkantation is _sooooo_ good. It's what put the Squid Sisters on the map for most of us."

"Yes. If it weren't for the Calamari Inkantation, I would not be here today. I have been very fond of the Squid Sisters since the day I first heard it." Eight explained. Now that the seaweed was beginning to take root in her system, she was hopelessly stuck against the back of her chair with her arms splayed out on the armrests.

Aurora's eyes widened. "Whoa…so, you're saying…that the Calamari Inkantation…_saved your life_ somehow?"

To that, Eight shook her head. "No, actually, I would say it saved…my future. I would not be here, living in Inkopolis, if it weren't for that song."

"Oh, I see what you mean. How did it do that?"

Aurora hoped she wasn't being too nosy with her questions. She was already quite impressed with how open Eight was being with her, considering how secretive she always was about her history. Aurora, along with Bella and Ophelia, had tried numerous times to learn about Eight's background in the past, especially while sharing seaweed from the bong, but they could never get the taciturn octo to crack. Aurora's biggest issue at the moment was wanting to know too much about her dearest friend…and not having the restraint to avoid prying. After all, she had just taken a _thunderous_ toke off the pen, and as her body began to shut down and glue her to her seat, her mind took off like a motorboat headed for the Ruins of Ark Polaris.

Eight didn't say anything for a while. Aurora's question still hung in the air, awkwardly untouched, for several seconds while the two octos stared beyond Eight's balcony at the columns of lights that aligned the nearest buildings. Eventually, the escalating chaos in Aurora's brain caused her to forget about her question altogether and default to a zombie-like state, with a dead gaze that seemed to stretch on forever. Her eyelids felt heavy, yet her hearts felt like they were beating miles out of her chest. And they wouldn't stop getting faster.

Finally, Eight broke the silence. She completely dodged Aurora's question, though, opting instead to introduce one of her own.

"How are you feeling?"

Aurora couldn't think straight. She could hear herself taking slow, heaving breaths. "I…I feel…gone…"

"…Gone?" Eight echoed, turning her head sluggishly. "Do you…at least…feel good?"

"I…don't know. I th…think I do…"

"You took in a lot more than normal. You will just need to relax for a while."

"Oh, believe me…" Aurora wheezed. "…I am _very_ relaxed." She giggled stupidly, despite barely having the energy to lift a single finger.

At this point, it was clear to Eight that Aurora was well beyond stoned. If her immoderate breathing and increasingly delusional tone didn't already give it away, her unfocused gaze certainly did. She was staring somewhere off in the distance without responding much to Eight's presence on the balcony with her. Eight knew it had been a while since Aurora's last hit of seaweed. With the way things now stood, concerning the big date at Albacore Hotel tomorrow, she didn't actually think Aurora would be willing to toke up on such short notice. Now that they had this time together, Eight tried to break out of her shell a bit more and address the things that had been bothering her all day.

"…Aurora?"

"Huh?" Aurora answered, responding as if she had just been startled out of a vivid daydream.

"Are you sure you want to go to Albacore Hotel tomorrow…dressed like that?" She asked monotonously. She wished her words would sound as emotional as she felt while saying them, but she never really learned how to communicate emotion.

"Of…course I do." Aurora replied between deep, gulping breaths. "How else…am I going…to win over Midas?"

"I will not be there with you tomorrow. What if you are harassed?"

"I want…Midas…to harass me. When he sees me in this top…and those new heels…he'll have to want me! He'll just _have_ to!"

"Aurora…"

Aurora turned her head finally, cutting Eight off with the full brunt of her baked glare. Eight could already see discoloration in her eyeballs. "Boys are…simple creatures, Eight. I'm gonna show Midas…that I want the D! His cute, sexy…_inkling_ D!"

Eight let out a huff. "This is not healthy, Aurora. There is something you should know about Albacore Hotel. And about inklings."

"Something I should know? What else…is there to know? Albacore Hotel is…my _favorite_ place to splat. It's all nice and…tropical 'n stuff." Aurora produced another demented grin as she pictured the place in her head. "Midas and I are gonna get _so_ drunk together…and kiss a lot…and maybe go flop around behind the concert stage on the water…"

"Please listen." Eight finally blurted, cutting Aurora off for the very first time. "I am not comfortable with you going to the hotel tomorrow."

"Wait…huh? You're not?" Aurora stammered, cocking her head slightly in confusion. Her eyes were _far_ from white at this point, and Eight could see it.

Eight shook her head again. "No. Albacore Hotel is a dangerous place to go without friends to support you."

"That's…ridiculous. Albacore Hotel is…the nicest place in Inkopolis! Plus, I'm going to have Midas with me."

Eight was growing increasingly dissatisfied with the direction of their conversation the longer it went on. She had hoped that sharing seaweed with Aurora would settle the obsession in her mind and make her more receptive to a calm, open discussion, but it was actually the opposite that seemed to be happening. In fact, it seemed like the best part of their conversation on the balcony was actually the _beginning_ of it, before the vapor had had a chance to go to her friend's head. Aurora was becoming rather manic now, thinking only about how hard she wanted to get inked by Midas while in the midst of a full-body stone that prevented her from moving anything below her neck. All of a sudden, Eight felt like she had done her pal a disservice by offering to share the clear pen with her.

"Aurora, Midas is not your friend. He will not support you. I think…" She hesitated for a moment before continuing, which was another rarity for her. "…I think he is trying to get rid of you."

Aurora was taken aback by that statement. She eyed Eight directly and let out a hearty scoff. "What? What…makes you think that?"

"You see…the thing about inklings is…they are very territorial."

"So? We are, too."

"Yes, but we are already in our territory. Albacore Hotel is inkling territory." Eight explained. "It is right in the middle of the richest part of the city."

Aurora, with a bit of effort, put a hand up to her cheek. "I…I don't understand. We've…been to Albacore Hotel before. We've had…turf wars there. We've even gone and…gotten drinks there before!"

"The splatting arena is for everyone." Eight mentioned. "The inklings at the bars like to watch battles. They do not care who is part of them. They also will not bother anyone that is part of a large group, which is why we have been able to go there and enjoy ourselves on occasion. But…if you go there with Midas tomorrow…you may not be so lucky."

"I…don't get it…" Aurora muttered, sounding slightly despaired. "I thought…there were only a _few_ inklings in the city…that didn't like us. Why would the hotel…be any different?"

Eight could not be sure that Aurora was going to take her words to heart. All she could do was tell her the truth and hope she saw the risk for herself. She _had_ to recognize Eight's experience in the city, right? Eight had seen more of the underlying nature of Inkopolis than all four of her friends combined, so she was confident in the dangers of trespassing into the wrong areas of the inklings' world. She prayed internally that she could get the message across.

She spent a moment trying to find the best way to answer Aurora's question. Aurora kept her gaze rigidly pointed at her in the meantime, waiting patiently in her dazed state for the explanation she was looking for.

"There are inklings in this city that have not forgotten about the Great Zapfish." She began, still hesitating occasionally in the pursuit of the best words. "After the incident with Callie's disappearance, they began to hate octolings like us. We were the cause of all their problems. Then, when all of you began migrating here from Octo Valley…they were angered. They had already claimed the whole city of Inkopolis as their territory. You, Aurora, are an intruder. And so are the rest of us."

"…Wow, I…wow." Aurora babbled. "Why don't they choose…to hate DJ Octavio, then? Most of us weren't even involved with him! Well…we think Ula might've been…but she won't talk to us about that."

"It does not make a difference to them. These inklings believe that all octolings are their enemies. That is why they often gather at Albacore Hotel to escape from us. It is the most upper-class hangout in the city."

Aurora sunk even further into her seat. The more she listened to Eight warn her about her upcoming date, the heavier her body began to feel. It was as if an invisible bundle of tentacles was wrapping itself around her and dragging her downwards through the lawn chair. Her eyelids drooped to the point of being nearly closed, and her rear proceeded to slide forward until she was slouched against the back of the seat. Everything felt like jelly. Her mind, however, was already severely outpacing the frantic thudding of her hearts, enshrouding her in a deranged stupor that left Eight's warnings hitting a wall in her ears. She understood everything her friend was saying, but the only thing her mind was able to process was her lush daydream. She still only wanted one thing, and she would not be deterred.

"Midas…wouldn't…do that to me." She mumbled, on the verge of incoherence. "Those inklings…should be able to handle at least _one_ octoling…in their precious hotel."

Eight saw what was beginning to happen to Aurora. She strongly regretted the decision to bust out her clear pen for this discussion. "You would have to be quite lucky for that. Ever since Midas said he would meet you at Albacore Hotel, I have been hoping that you would not run into any trouble. However, if you go to the hotel dressed like that…there will be no hope for you. You are going to offend the other visitors."

"Come on, Eight…my clothes aren't _that_ bad. I just wanna…push Midas's buttons a bit." Aurora replied with a roll of her eyes.

Eight rebutted by crossing her arms in front of her and giving Aurora a stern, disapproving glare. "Aurora, I can see one of your nipples. You have been flashing me for the past several minutes."

"_Whaaat_? Why didn't you…tell me sooner?"

Eight opened her mouth to respond, but she stopped herself from saying anything. Aurora remained slouched in her lazy position, waiting for Eight to give her answer without doing anything about her rogue breast. The two of them fell into another brief period of silence while Eight tried awkwardly to think of something to say. After Aurora's initial reaction, she didn't seem bothered by the fact that she was unintentionally exposing herself to her friend. She seemed to stare right through Eight with a plethora of lethargy and general disinterest toward her risks.

"Aren't you going to…cover up?" Eight finally asked.

"Mmm…meh. Too much work. I'm…comfortable like this." Aurora sighed in response. She sucked in a big, tired breath and let it out slowly.

Eight took that response with another huff. "I wish you would be more modest, Aurora. Your obsessions are making me worried."

"Well, Eight…" Aurora began with a dismissive flair. "…I wish you would be a little _less_ modest sometimes. Why aren't _you_ trying to find a date for the Splatfest, huh? What's got your tentacles in a twist?"

Eight was completely blindsided by that question. Her eyes widened, and her parental stance in the situation seemed to falter suddenly. She was facing Aurora from a different angle now.

"…What?"

"The Splatfest is the day after tomorrow, you know. I don't know why you're spending so much time worrying about me…instead of trying to put yourself out there. You'd…probably have at least one boy knocking on your door by now." Aurora muttered, still refusing to adjust her tank top. "Why don't you want a date?"

"…I do want a date."

"Then…what gives?"

"I am just trying to protect you." Eight mentioned diligently.

Aurora frowned. "You already _have_ protected me, Eight. Back on the terrace, and also in the lobby downstairs. I'm…really grateful for that, by the way, so…thank you." She waited a moment for Eight to respond, but all she got was a simple nod. So, she continued. "But…it doesn't make sense that you're so bent out of shape over what _I've_ been choosing to wear. The Splatfest is your chance to make a good impression to the boys! Why aren't you taking it?"

Eight wanted to avoid that question, and she made it known to Aurora rather quickly. She adjusted her sitting position and rested her hands in her lap. Her eyes also kept glancing down to the side, where Aurora's right breast was still shamelessly sharing in the glow of the city lights. Aurora watched her do this through her lazy, drooped eyelids. She always got a weird feeling whenever Eight struggled to answer a question.

"…Eight?"

"It is complicated for me. I am still trying to figure it out." Eight suddenly answered, pulling her eyes away from her distraction to look Aurora directly in the eye.

Aurora didn't feel satisfied with her response, but she knew it was probably the best one she was going to get. She and the other girls knew that Eight was rather inept at expressing herself, which was obviously a hindrance to picking up mates. It seemed like Eight just didn't know how to be flirty. Hell, it wasn't like Aurora was any better at vamping, but she at _least_ knew how to demonstrate her attraction to a boy when the time came, even if her attempts were incredibly sloppy. Eight didn't even know how to smile when passing a friendly stranger on the street.

"…Uh huuuh." She hummed. "You just gotta try being brave. I get really jittery and nervous whenever I'm around Midas, but I managed to get this far by powering through it and focusing on how great it would be to mix colors with him at the Splatfest." She explained, giggling stupidly at the end as her mind was filled with another raunchy daydream.

Eight was beginning to lose her confidence. The seaweed had caused Aurora's shell to break down quite noticeably, unleashing a flurry of inappropriate thoughts and nosy questions that would otherwise go unshared. Unsure of how to move forward with the conversation, Eight glanced down at the ground for a moment, then back up at Aurora.

"…Brave?"

"Yeah, like…I wouldn't be any closer to having Midas as my boyfriend…if I hadn't faced those inkling boys and asked for that rematch." Her entire body lolled to the side against the armrest as she said this, causing her breast to come further into view through her tank top. Eight had an extremely hard time pulling her eyes away from it. "Once you find that perfect match…you just gotta go for it."

"Aurora…"

"Is there a boy that you want to date? Someone you think is cute? Or really sexy?"

Eight yanked her gaze away again, but this time, she didn't glance back. Her focus returned to the city-lit horizon beyond the balcony, where it remained for the next part of their discussion. Aurora noticed how long it was taking her friend to answer. Once again, she could not explain the feeling she got from it.

When Eight finally gave her response, it was not an answer to Aurora's question.

"You are not really on Team Personality…are you, Aurora?" She asked in a hushed voice.

It was a question with deep implications, but Aurora, in her impaired state, took it at face value. "Um…I guess not. I chose Personality because I thought Midas would be on that team. Why?"

Eight slowly shook her head, her gaze still fixated on the buildings before them. "…I will try being brave, like you have said. But, Aurora…your 'bravery'…I think it is reckless. It has divided us."

Aurora let out a long breath, which could be felt by Eight a few feet away. "Maybe a little…but it isn't something we can't overcome. We've made it through much worse together."

"Yes…but we have also never experienced a Splatfest together before. Bella and the others are mad at you…and we are also on opposing Splatfest teams. We are very divided. Is Midas worth all of that to you?" Eight queried.

"There will be more Splatfests." Aurora fired back. "But Midas is the one. I _have_ to be with him. He _has_ to love me back. He _has_ to."

Aurora's eyes closed at the end of that last statement. With Eight still looking the other way, she slid further back against her seat to the point where her neck was propped up on the bottom of the backrest. The rest of her body protruded forward from the chair, distracting Eight again as her feet made their way into her personal space. It was as if a powerful trance had overtaken her upon letting Midas enter her mind again. Her grip on the world around her started to loosen…and be replaced by the lucid sensation of her crush's tentacles enveloping her body. It was happening again, just like it had in both the sleeping bag and the changing room.

When Eight snuck a glimpse in her friend's direction and saw her reaching under her tank top to squeeze her own boobs a few times, she immediately stood up from her chair and marched back to the balcony door. Aurora was jolted out of her hypnosis by the sound of the knob turning. Her eyes opened quickly, and she sat up fully in her seat.

"Wha…hey…wait! Where are you going?" She babbled.

"I am going to bed. The seaweed has made me tired." Eight declared somberly. "Feel free to sleep wherever you want."

"Wait, you can't just leave me out here! I still need to borrow some night clothes!"

Eight looked visibly displeased. "I never said you could not come inside. There are spare pajamas in my wardrobe for you to wear."

"Oh, uh…okay. Thank you."

Aurora stood up weakly from her seat, nearly collapsing back into it from her apparent wooziness. Despite feeling somewhat off tilt about the events of their talk, Eight gave Aurora mercy by holding the door open for her while she recovered her balance and waddled over to it. It was right as Aurora was passing Eight and stepping through the doorframe into Eight's bedroom that she made a dispiriting realization. She didn't have her Wah-Wah with her. He was still back at the girls' apartment, probably by the sink where she had left him that morning. When the fact crossed her mind, she whimpered sadly.

"Is something wrong?" Eight asked upon stepping inside and closing the door behind her.

Aurora trusted Eight not to make fun of her like Bella always did, so she felt comfortable explaining the cause of her woe. "…I left Wah-Wah back at home…"

Eight raised an eyebrow. "Wah…Wah…?"

"Yeah…he's a plushie. I've had him since I was a hatchling." She sighed. "I…I can't sleep without him…"

Eight stood behind her sulking friend without saying anything. Certain forces always seemed to act on the phlegmatic octo whenever she saw her friend in despair, like when she was forced to watch her mope in silence in front of the high heel display back at The Reef. Those forces were, of course, acting on her again, growing stronger with each wordless moment that passed between the two of them. Eventually, her agitated temperament began to dissolve. She looked down to the side again, entering a deeply pensive state for a few seconds. She thought about some of the things Aurora had said during their conversation.

"…Would you like to sleep with me tonight? In my bed?"

Aurora's response to that was…mixed, to say the least. She turned around slowly and glared at Eight with a confused expression.

"You'd let me sleep…_with_ you?" She stammered awkwardly. "We…uhh…we don't…_do_ that kind of stuff back at home…"

She couldn't help but feel like Eight's offer was a joke, but when she studied her face, she observed no change in her expression. As always, her face remained perfectly indecipherable. It was just so strange to her.

"Perhaps I am not like the other girls. I am happy to do it if you need company during your sleep." Eight stated.

Aurora pondered the decision for a few more seconds, murmuring and stuttering the entire time. It was quite an unusual proposition to her, especially coming from Eight, but it also sounded delightfully warm and thoughtful. Considering how she often felt trying to get through the night without Wah-Wah in her arms, she found the offer to be massively superior to sleeping on the couch in the living room by herself. She really couldn't refuse.

"A…Alright. I guess I can join you."

Eight's stance appeared to change completely. She nodded once. "Veemo. There are comfortable clothes in the bottom drawer. You can take anything from there and go change in the bathroom."

Aurora acknowledged her instructions, but something else had caught her attention. "Did…did you just say 'veemo?'"

"…I did."

"Um…okay." She chuckled. "I just…never heard you say that before."

"I can say it more if you would like me to."

"Nah, it's…fine. You can say whatever you want."

Aurora left Eight standing by the door to go raid her wardrobe for something to wear to bed. Eight clearly had nothing to hide, nor did she seem to favor a particular item in her wardrobe, but Aurora still wanted to respect her friend's belongings. Therefore, when she knelt in front of the wardrobe and pulled open the drawer beneath the main cabinet, she picked through the clothing items inside very selectively. They were, of course, folded as neatly as could be, while also being organized by the colors of the rainbow. She expected no less from her companion at this point.

Meanwhile, Eight had begun pulling back the comforter and the sheets on her bed with careful precision. She started on the side closest to the door shortly after Aurora had stepped over to the wardrobe, peeling the layers back as if she were peeling the world's most fragile banana. Then, while Aurora was still distracted, she walked around to the other side of the bed and peeled back the other side, revealing a perfectly linear strip of mattress where the pillows were nestled. After that, she climbed onto the bed and crawled steadily to the new crevice she had created, where she proceeded to insert her body under the covers and lay her head on one of the pillows. Such was her daily routine, meticulously finessing her bed every time she planned to get in or out of it.

By the time Eight was finished, laying in a snug position with her head slightly propped forward by her pillow, Aurora had already disappeared to the bathroom with a loose-fitting ensemble from the drawer. Eight merely laid there, staring at the opposite wall and reminiscing on her conversation with Aurora while she waited for her to return. Of course, since Aurora hadn't been wearing much to begin with, it didn't take her long to wrap up and return to the bedroom with her newly store-bought day clothes wadded up in her fist. She grinned at Eight as she stepped through the doorway.

"Just so you know, I didn't spend too much time looking through your wardrobe, because…there's something I wanted to ask you." Aurora mentioned as she turned off the light and strode over to the bed to join her friend under the covers.

"What is it?" Eight prompted.

Aurora dropped her day clothes lazily on the floor by the side of the bed. "Is it okay if I…sleep as an octo tonight? I'm usually pretty insecure about my octo form…"

Eight shrugged. "Of course. Is something bothering you?"

"No, no, I just…" She paused for a few moments as she struggled to find a euphemism. "…I just…kick around a lot when I dream. I don't want to disturb your sleep."

"Oh. Okay, then."

Aurora chose not to share the _actual_ reason for going to sleep in her octo form. Looking back on the rest of the day, she knew that she had no choice. She was _way_ too prone to touching herself whenever Midas entered her mind. The problem was especially evident at night, during her most intense dreams, if her friends' soiled sleeping bag was any indication. If she were to accidentally ink all over Eight's fancy bedspread…she'd certainly want to jump off the balcony before sunrise. Sleeping in her octo form was the only way she could prevent that from happening.

Eight watched her through the darkness of the room as she climbed onto the bed next to her and morphed into her octo form. She was about to help Aurora get under the covers by lifting them up and granting her entrance, but she seemed to have no trouble slithering up to the spare pillow and pulling the covers over herself with her wriggly tentacles. Once she was settled, she glanced at Eight with her big, googly eyes and blinked once.

"Goodnight, Aurora." Eight uttered in a quiet, soothing voice.

Aurora extended one of her tentacles and tapped Eight once on the thigh as a way to return the favor. But then, just as she was beginning to close her eyes and drift into a peaceful sleep, Eight did something that completely shocked and confused her. She turned her whole body towards Aurora under the covers, and…in a soft, gentle motion…she wrapped her arms snugly around her mantle. The perturbed octo's eyes initially shot back open as she felt this, but over time, she became deeply relaxed by the intimate sensation. Before she knew it, the warm, sheltering feel of Eight's grasp caused her to pass out within minutes.

One of the last things to pass through Aurora's mind before she slipped into her most blissful slumber was how amazing it felt to be close to someone else. Almost immediately after feeling Eight's arms close around her, she had completely forgotten about her Wah-Wah. It was almost as if…she didn't need him anymore.

One thing was certain. She could not _wait_ for Midas to do this to her.

**To be Continued…**

**Author's Note:** I know this chapter is shorter than the last two, despite it taking two and a half months to complete. I was actually making decent headway on this one by the end of the summer, but once my penultimate semester of college began around Labor Day, my free time was absolutely shot. I'm still making a deliberate effort to work on this story whenever I can, but it seems like I have less and less time to do so with each chapter I upload. In fact, I don't think I can guarantee the seventh chapter by Christmas. If you're an avid follower of this story (thank you, first of all), please don't get discouraged! It'll happen eventually, even if it takes a while. Thank you for sticking with me through it all! :)


End file.
